North Korean warship seen severely damaged after failed launch

Jon Herskovitz, Bloomberg News on May 22, 2025

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North Korea has placed a cover over a destroyer that suffered damage in a botched launch attempt, with the vessel now appearing to be on its side and partially submerged, satellite imagery indicates.

The 5,000-ton Choe Hyon-class destroyer — one of the North Korea’s largest warships — was a key part of the state’s naval modernization plans. Kim Jong Un was on hand to see the launch and his media made a rare admission of failure afterwards, with the leader calling the incident a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.

The ship’s bow didn’t leave the shipway, KCNA said, and the imagery indicates that a section of the destroyer remained on land.

“From satellite image alone, I cannot tell how badly damaged the ship is. But I would assume that the ship suffered from structural damage,” said Tianran Xu, a senior analyst at the Open Nuclear Network in Vienna.

Kim called for the destroyer to be restored by the end of June, but Xu said he’s “suspicious about this timeline.”

North Korea’s state media hasn’t released images of the accident as of 11 p.m. local time Thursday, and the acknowledgment of the launch failure was probably due to the attention North Korea has drawn to its new class of destroyers.

The country’s navy mainly consists of smaller vessels for coastal defense. The new destroyers were designed to extend the nation’s firepower in the Yellow Sea to the west and in eastern waters leading to Japan.

The vessels can launch guided missiles and boast an air defense system that include the Russian Pantsir-M, “manifesting the growing cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow,” according to an analysis by Beyond Parallel, which focuses on North Korea.

The Pantsir system is designed for use against helicopters, drones and cruise missiles, it said, adding “it is unclear whether North Korea directly acquired the system or has obtained a license to produce the system from Russia.”

Construction was carried out at breakneck speed and may have been influenced by Russia’s help, weapons analyst Joost Oliemans wrote in NK News.

North Korea has sent thousands of troops to help Russia in its assault on Ukraine, while supplying the Kremlin’s war machine with millions of rounds of artillery and scores of ballistic missiles, according to the US, South Korea and others. In exchange, Moscow has sent aid that has bolstered North Korea’s economy and technology that has enhanced Kim’s military.

Xu said that North Korea carried out live-fire tests with the first of the Choe Hyon destroyers, which was launched in April. The vessel was still unpowered for the tests, which indicated the propulsion systems were not ready, he said.

“Coupled with yesterday’s failed launch of the second ship of the Choe Hyon-class destroyers on the east coast, it suggests that Kim Jong Un is pushing naval modernization faster than North Korea’s shipbuilding industry can safely deliver,” he said.

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