Nampo: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen a test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from a new destroyer ahead of its commissioning, noting that equipping the navy with nuclear weapons is making "satisfactory progress," state media reported Thursday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim inspected the Choe Hyon at a shipyard in the western port city of Nampho on Tuesday and Wednesday to review its crew members' combat training and assess its operational capabilities. Kim oversaw the launch of sea-to-surface strategic cruise missiles from the destroyer Wednesday, assessing the test as a "core" element of the warship's operational capabilities. North Korea's reference to "strategic" weapons suggests that they could have nuclear capabilities.
In April last year, North Korea unveiled the Choe Hyon, a 5,000-ton multipurpose destroyer, as part of efforts to enhance its naval power. After overseeing a shakedown cruise Tuesday, the North's leader described the destroyer as a "new symbol of sea defense capability." Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA, "Our Navy's forces for attacking from under and above water will grow rapidly. The arming of the Navy with nuclear weapons is making satisfactory progress."
The North's leader called for building two surface warships of the same class or higher every year over the next five-year period. Kim also inspected the third Choe Hyon-class destroyer under construction at the shipyard, the KCNA said. In June last year, North Korea launched another 5,000-ton destroyer, the Kang Kon, after it had tipped over during its initial launch attempt the previous month.
The inspection came as North Korea wrapped up the weeklong congress of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea on Feb. 25. In a new five-year plan to enhance defense power, Pyongyang vowed to continue to produce nuclear weapons and develop various strategic weapons. Meanwhile, in a separate dispatch, the KCNA reported that Kim oversaw a shooting contest of snipers from Korean People's Army (KPA) units Tuesday to mark "Sniper's Day" in the military. The report stated that Kim gave important guidelines for training all-round snipers.