North Korea plans to build a destroyer of 5,000 tonnes more for its navy, the KCNA state agency reported on Tuesday, after two similar war ships were launched this year.
The Nampho shipyard workers (southwest of Pyongyang) were committed on Monday, during a rally, to complete the construction of the ship by October 10, 2026, according to KCNA.
This date marks the anniversary of the Foundation of the Workers’ Party, the single North Korean party.
The regime will now build the “destroyer n ° 3 of Choe Hyon class”, describes as a “powerful warship”.
The Nampho shipyard director urged the workers to respect the construction period in order to support the “Plan to create powerful armed forces” and to “firmly defend inviolable maritime sovereignty and national interests”.
North Korea had launched in mid-June, in the presence of its leader Kim Jong Un, a destroyer who had overthrown during a first attempt to launch in May.
A ceremony in honor of the ship called Kang Kon, named after a North Korean general killed during the Korean War (1950-1953), had taken place at the Rajin shipyard in Rason, in the northeast of the country, according to KCNA.
The first attempt to build down the destroyer of 5000 tonnes on May 21 in the port of Chongjin, resulted in a “serious accident”, according to Pyongyang.
Part of the lower shell of the ship had been crushed in what Kim Jong one had called “a criminal act caused by absolute negligence”.
The state media then reported the arrest of four people.