North Korea wanted to show strength, or at least tried to…. What it ended up showing was a monumental failure. Its most advanced destroyer, equipped with a vertical missile launch system, sank just minutes after touching the water for the first time.
Catastrophic. Satellite images left no room for doubt: the sunken ship was tilted next to the dock and covered with blue tarps, as if trying to hide the disaster… but some disasters simply cannot be hidden.
The launch ceremony, held at the port of Chongjin, was meant to be another media stunt by the regime. Even Kim Jong Un was there.
Everything seemed like it was going to be extraordinary, and it turned out to be the complete opposite: a structural collapse full of technical flaws and an infrastructure that couldn’t be trusted.
Kim Jong Un called the incident a “criminal act” caused by “absolute negligence”, wow!What went wrong with the launch of this boat?
The system they used to launch the ship (known as a side launch) is very uncommon in North Korean shipyards.
This system requires millimetric precision in the distribution of the hull’s weight. But according to CSIS analysts, the Hambuk shipyard lacked the technical experience and infrastructure to handle a frigate of that size.
The result was an uneven detachment of the bogies supporting the hull, which caused its immediate capsize.Days before the launch, analysts had detected simultaneous use of cranes and auxiliary barges, which already raised suspicions of an improvised and risky operation. And that’s exactly what it was.
The ambition behind the project
The ill-fated destroyer belongs to the same class as the Choi Hyon, launched weeks earlier from the western port of Nampo.
These vessels are designed with 74 vertical launch cells capable of holding everything from ballistic missiles to advanced anti-air systems.
The goal of these ships isn’t just defensive. North Korea is seeking to project strategic power in open waters, which would mark a major shift in its naval doctrine.
But experts believe the rushed construction of these frigates responds more to political needs than military ones.During the first tests of it, there were some suspicions that the ship lacked a fully functional propulsion system. I mean… it seemed like they had skipped steps just to meet regime deadlines!!
What about the consquences?
The incident goes far beyond the military sphere. It’s a direct blow to the narrative of strength and technological self-sufficiency that Kim Jong Un is trying to reinforce. His presence at the ceremony was no coincidence: it was an event meant to be televised, glorified, turned into a symbol… and now it’s become an international embarrassment.
Kim has ordered an urgent repair before the Party’s plenary meeting in June, but the damage appears so severe that many analysts believe the failure is irreversible.
And as often happens in authoritarian regimes, reprisals may fall on engineers and shipyard officials.
Tactical failure or threatening symbol?
Even if the ship ended up half-sunken, the underlying message isn’t completely erased. The very fact that Pyongyang is testing vertical launchers and ballistic missiles from naval platforms signals a step toward a more aggressive and mobile military strategy.
What was supposed to mark the beginning of a new era for North Korea’s navy ended up being a brutal reminder of the regime’s technical limitations. Yes, the destroyer sank. But the rearmament program remains active, and so does the regime’s need to manufacture symbols that sustain its narrative of power.
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