Kim says North Korea will build 10,000-tonne warships as it pursues a nuclear navy

PYONGYANG: North Korea will arm its navy with nuclear weapons and move ahead with building larger warships, leader Kim Jong Un said, according to state media, as Pyongyang continues to expand its military capabilities.

Kim made the remarks during a ceremony on Tuesday in the port city of Nampho for the commissioning of the Choe Hyon, one of two 5,000-tonne-class warships launched last year, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Wednesday. North Korea has previously said the Choe Hyon carries the most powerful weapons, and Kim oversaw a cruise missile test from the vessel in April.

At the ceremony, Kim said the naval nuclear armament programme was advancing as planned. He said the effort was strategically important because it would allow the country’s nuclear force to remain prepared for diverse and effective operations.

He also said another destroyer, the Kang Kon, would soon be commissioned for operations, after which North Korea would begin launching 10,000-ton strategic warships in succession. Kim added that the country intended to build two surface ships each year of a class higher than the Choe Hyon, including one 10,000-tonne cruiser.

Push to narrow maritime gap

A 10,000-tonne-class naval vessel, such as the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer or South Korea’s Sejong the Great-class at full load, is typically about 150 to 170 metres long and weighs as much as several thousand cars. South Korea’s navy operates more than 10 ships larger than 5,000 tonnes, while North Korea has two.

Choi Gi-il, a military studies professor at Sangji University, said the 10,000-tonne threshold would carry symbolic importance for Pyongyang. He told AFP that a ship of that size would reflect North Korea’s determination not to fall further behind South Korea in maritime power.

Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University, said the announcement appeared mainly intended to send a message to the United States, South Korea’s principal security ally. He said North Korea viewed such weapons as part of a broader effort to deter or obstruct possible US military intervention on the Korean Peninsula in the event of conflict. Lim added that if Pyongyang deploys ship-launched cruise missiles fitted with tactical nuclear warheads, it would substantially increase the burden on South Korean and US forces and raise the costs of defence and deterrence.

Broader military posture

The announcement came days after Kim used a key ruling party meeting to call for faster military modernisation, while accusing South Korea and the United States of driving the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.

North Korea has long said its nuclear programme is an essential deterrent against the United States and South Korea, despite facing multiple layers of sanctions. Pyongyang has repeatedly described itself as an irreversible nuclear state since the collapse of Kim’s 2019 summit in Hanoi with then-US president Donald Trump over disagreements on denuclearisation and sanctions relief.

North Korea and South Korea also remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The United States keeps about 28,500 troops in South Korea to support Seoul’s defences against threats from the North.

Photographs released by KCNA showed Kim saluting the Choe Hyon alongside senior officials and delivering a speech aboard the newly commissioned vessel.