What Kim Jong Un’s commissioning of North Korea’s largest-ever warship means: Key implications explained

North Korea has reportedly commissioned its largest-ever warship, a 5,000-ton destroyer, marking a significant move that could give its adversaries something more to think about at a time of urgent situations.

In a speech at Nampho Shipyard on the country’s west coast, Kim Jong Un said that the introduction indicated a new milestone in its military history, declaring that its navy has “put an end to over 70 years of its stagnation.”

The North Korean fleet’s prominence has been diminished by another power that fields modern warships and submarines equipped with advanced machinery and powerful missile launch capabilities.

You Ji-hoon, research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses said: “The new ship is a step up from North Korea’s traditional naval set-up, which has relied heavily on “asymmetric coastal forces such as submarines, fast-attack craft, coastal artillery, mines and special forces infiltration.”

Kim clarified that the Choe Hyon will be the first ship of a modern North Korean fleet. Kim, underlining the new warship was a completely domestic product built without foreign assistance.

In this regard, Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul noted that the pace of shipbuilding could indicate otherwise.

According to analysts, North Korea has a long way to go to match South Korea and its US ally, which fields dozens of guided-missile destroyers with the latest missiles and latest combat systems.

It is pertinent to mention here that this marks North Korea’s first true ocean-going warship, and the new vessel focuses a new calculus regarding the enforcement of United Nations arms sanctions against the Kim regime.

Yu further stated: “Even if it falls short of being a fully modern destroyer, it could still pose a real burden to South Korean security if it’s used as a missile-launch platform or a means of escalating crises,”