N. Korea’s Kim inspects Nampho shipyard, calls for rapid naval buildup
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, inspects a shipyard in the western coastal city of Nampho, Monday, in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, Wednesday. Yonhap
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the Nampho Shipyard and called for a rapid buildup of naval combat power to counter “hostile acts of the enemies,” state media said Wednesday.
Kim made the remarks during an on-site inspection at the shipyard Monday, where he was briefed on the shipyard’s ongoing upgrades and inspected a new warship under construction, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
“It is vital and important requirement of the times to rapidly bolster up the surface and underwater combat power for defending the national sovereignty in the sea under various threats,” Kim said.
“The recent geopolitical environment and hostile acts of the enemies in the region” prove the need for “the most developed and powerful warship,” he added.
The report said Kim expressed “great satisfaction” with the new warship, which he said “is incomparably huge and browbeating than the destroyer built last year.”
While the report did not provide the ship’s specifications, it said the vessel is “designed to carry out its complex operational mission in consideration of the present-day warfare.”
On efforts to modernize the shipyard, Kim called for automating the production process, constructing a second ground dock so ships can be built and repaired at the same time, and fixing the “irrational” layout of its buildings.
“The advanced and hi-tech shipbuilding base is essential for building a powerful naval force which no one can provoke,” he said.
North Korea has been accelerating its push to deploy naval assets with nuclear capabilities on both coasts, with the Choe Hyon in the West Sea and the Kang Kon in the East Sea.
In September, the North commissioned the 5,000-ton Kang Kon destroyer, which it called part of a “nuclear counteraction system.” It said, at that time, the ship would defend the country’s maritime sovereignty as a “nuclear war deterrent.” Three months earlier, the Choe Hyon was commissioned into active service.
Earlier this year, Pyongyang unveiled plans to build two large warships of over 5,000 tons over the next five years.
