North Korea said a “serious accident” occurred the previous day during a ceremony to launch a new warship, with its leader Kim Jong-un calling it a “criminal act” that could not be tolerated. The accident took place Wednesday at a shipyard in the eastern port city of Chongjin during a ceremony to launch a newly built 5,000-tonne destroyer, attended by the North’s leader, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Citing “inexperience in command and operational carelessness” in the course of the launch, North Korea said a “serious accident” occurred as the launch slide of the stern departed first and was stranded while the flatcar failed to move in parallel.
Some sections of the warship’s bottom were “crushed,” destroying the balance of the warship, and the bow couldn’t leave the shipway, it reported.
After watching the whole course of the accident, Kim said, “It was a serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism which is out of the bounds of possibility and could not be tolerated,” according to the KCNA.
He ordered the restoration of the warship to be “completed unconditionally” before a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) set for June and gave an important instruction related to an investigation into the accident.
“The immediate restoration of the destroyer is not merely a practical issue but a political issue directly related to the authority of the state,” Kim said.
The political bureau of the WPK decided to convene the 12th plenary meeting of the party’s central committee in late June to review the first-half performance and policies for the second half, the KCNA said in a separate dispatch.
The North did not disclose photos related to the latest accident.
Considering that Kim called for the restoration to take place before the June party meeting, a unification ministry official said the scope of the damage is likely not large and appears to be recoverable.
“By using the expression ‘absolute carelessness,’ (Kim) could have aimed at shoring up internal discipline through a stern reprimand,” the official said, noting the accident was reported on the front page of the North’s main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun.
South Korea’s military said the North appears to have failed in using a side launching technique.
“South Korea and US intelligence authorities had been tracking and monitoring the movement of a large-sized warship at the North’s Chongjin port,” Col. Lee Sung-jun, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), told a regular press briefing.
“We assess (the warship’s) side launching failed,” Lee said, adding the destroyer remains partially capsized on the sea.
The latest accident came as the North has been ramping up efforts to modernise its naval capabilities, conducting a firing test on a newly built 5,000-tonne destroyer just days after its launch, Yonhap news agency reported.
Last month, North Korea unveiled the new multipurpose destroyer named the Choe Hyon. It said the warship is equipped with supersonic strategic cruise missiles, tactical ballistic missiles, and other strike means.
