North Korean leader Kim Jong-un put his second naval destroyer into service and called for building a more reliable nuclear deterrent, state media reported yesterday, as the US, South Korea and Japan began a trilateral military exercise he views as a security threat.
The ship’s commissioning comes as North Korea is dialing up pressure on Washington after rebuffing US President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back a major military drill with South Korea in a conciliatory step toward Kim. Observers say North Korea wants to wrest bigger US concessions.
The destroyer Kang Kon was commissioned into North Korea’s navy in the eastern port city of Wonsan on Sunday at a ceremony attended by Kim and his teenage daughter, whom South Korea’s spy service calls his likely heir. North Korean state media photos showed the girl in a white dress and blazer walking alongside her father on a red carpet, touring the warship and posing with sailors.
Photo: KCNA / KCNA VIA KNS / AFP
The ship and the Choe Hyon, which was put into service in June, are both 5,000-tonne destroyers that state media said can carry various conventional and nuclear weapons. Considered North Korea’s biggest and most advanced warships, the two destroyers were likely built with Russian assistance, experts say.
In July, North Korea said it test-fired nuclear-capable cruise missiles from the Kang Kon.
In a speech at the ceremony, Kim said the back-to-back warship additions instilled fear in the enemies as the nuclear armament of North Korea’s navy made it possible to exercise its nuclear deterrent in a more diversified, practical manner.
Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
“The enemies’ concerns will surely be deepened,” Kim said. “We must establish more clearly a powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent, to put into practice the diverse and effective operation of our nuclear combat systems and further strengthen our military activities for maritime defense and war deterrence.”
Meanwhile, the US, South Korea and Japan yesterday began their five-day Freedom Edge exercise near the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea’s military said the exercise is defensive in nature and meant to enhance a joint response capability against North Korean nuclear threats, and that it involves key maritime and aerial military assets from the three countries.
At the exercise’s opening ceremony at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, the US Pacific Command quoted Lieutenant General Stephen Jost, commander of the US forces in Japan, as saying that Washington, Tokyo and Seoul “stand together on common interests, ready to preserve the peace and security we have built and defended for more than eight decades.”
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