North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects the launch of cruise missiles from a destroyer at a shipyard in Nampo, South Pyongan Province on March 4, 2026, in this photo released by the state-run [North] Korean Central News Agency the following day.

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SEOUL, March 5 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a shipyard in Nampo for a new destroyer and oversaw the test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the vessel, state media reported on Thursday.

According to the state-run [North] Korean Central News Agency, Kim, accompanied by key military and party officials, conducted a two-day inspection of the 5,000-ton Choe Hyun on Tuesday and Wednesday to "observe its crew members' combat and political training and the shakedown to assess its operational capabilities."

Overseeing the test launch of sea-to-surface strategic cruise missiles from the destroyer, Kim Jong-un said it was an "important core element in estimating the operational capabilities of the warship."

Praising its sailors for "having achieved successes," Kim was also quoted as saying, "The tests of operational efficiency of the new-type destroyer, a new symbol of our state's sea defense capability, are going smoothly as planned."

"Our Navy will have a powerful offensive capability, which is, in effect, a capability for defending ourselves," he added.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (center) instructs officials aboard the country's 5,000-ton destroyer Choe Hyon at a shipyard in Nampo, South Pyongan Province on March 4, 2026, in this photo released by the state-run [North] Korea Central News Agency the following day.

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Kim also inspected another destroyer under construction, which would become the third vessel of the same class as the Choe Hyon, expected to be completed by early October in time for the 81st anniversary of the founding of the country's key ruling organ, the Workers' Party of Korea.

He also called for building more warships of the same class or larger each year under the country's new five-year plans, as part of efforts to strengthen its naval power.

Launched in April last year, the multipurpose destroyer, named after Choe Hyon, a comrade of the nation's founder Kim Il-sung during his days as a partisan fighter, is believed to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Lee Hugh

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