North Korean leader Kim Jong-un unveils new warship

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended sea trials of a new warship repaired after a failed launch last year and pledged to speed up efforts to build a nuclear-armed navy, reports said. state media reported on Saturday, highlighting its growing military capabilities in the run-up to a visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim Jong-un visited the 5,000-ton destroyer Kang Kon on Thursday as it underwent performance tests.

Photos released by the agency showed him with his increasingly high-profile teenage daughter, believed to be Kim Ju Ae, who South Korean officials said could be groomed to succeed him.

Kim Jong-un called for “rapidly developing” naval forces capable of playing a greater role in the country’s nuclear deterrence and inflicting “a fatal blow to the enemy at any time, underwater or on the surface,” the KCNA said.

He stressed that the navy was at the heart of a new five-year defense plan approved at a ruling party congress earlier this year, which includes the construction of larger 10,000-ton class destroyers and the development unspecified “secret underwater weapons”.

The agency reported no direct remarks from Kim Jong-un regarding Washington or Seoul, as tensions persist over his nuclear ambitions and the freeze on diplomatic relations continues.

The report was released a day after North Korean and Chinese state media confirmed that Xi Jinping would visit North Korea on Monday, the latest sign of Beijing’s efforts to strengthen ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor.

In recent years, Kim Jong-un has prioritized his relations with Russia, including sending troops and military equipment to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Xi Jinping’s trip was announced a day after North Korea revealed what the South Korean military said was a new uranium enrichment facility intended to produce fuel for nuclear bombs.

During a visit to the unspecified site, Kim Jong-un pledged to expand the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate,” a move that experts say reflects his desire to consolidate North Korea’s status as a nuclear-armed state. of nuclear weapons before the visit of the Chinese president.

The Kang Kon is the second of two destroyers unveiled last year by North Korea, after the Choe Hyon, whose development Kim Jong-un hailed as a major step forward towards extending operational range and strike capabilities preventive measure of its army equipped with nuclear weapons.

State media said the ships are designed to carry a range of weapons systems, including anti-aircraft and anti-ship weapons as well as nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles, although some experts have questioned their effectiveness in service active.

The Kang Kon was damaged during a botched launching ceremony last May in the northeastern port of Chongjin, provoking a furious response from Kim Jong-un, who called the failure “criminal.”

North Korea said the Kang Kon was returned to the water in June after repairs, but outside experts expressed doubts about the ship’s full operationality.

Kim Jong-un has called for the construction of two more 5,000-ton class destroyers.