The flagship state propaganda agency of communist North Korea revealed on Thursday that dictator Kim Jong-un was witness to a “serious accident” involving a new naval destroyer that severely damaged the vessel.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kim as saying that the accident “brought the dignity and self-respect of our state to a collapse” and those in charge would face severe consequences. North Korea has one of the world’s most atrocious human rights records and routinely imprisons people in labor camps or executes them for alleged infractions much less significant than embarrassing Kim with a major military error.
North Korea prides itself on its military, redirecting much of its government budget to its illegal nuclear weapons program while forcing its populace to live in squalor. It has tested nuclear weapons seven times, most recently in 2017, but also regularly fires missiles into the neighboring East Sea/Sea of Japan or into the Pacific Ocean to intimidate its enemies, most prominently South Korea and the United States. It is unclear why KCNA reported on the embarrassing incident, confirming the failure to its domestic audience that does not have legal access to news sources outside of those run by the Kim regime.
KCNA did not offer any clear details of what went wrong during the incident, but identified the affected vessel as a “5,000-tonnage destroyer” that had attempted to depart the Chongjin Shipyard on Wednesday. The state newspaper Rodong Sinmun published the same report on Thursday notably omitting photos. Rodong Sinmun typically publishes photos when Kim Jong-un personally attends military events.
“A serious accident occurred in the course of the launch of the destroyer,” KCNA reported. “Due to the inexperienced command and operational carelessness in the course of the launch, the launch slide of the stern has departed first and stranded as the flatcar failed to move in parallel.”
“Some sections of the warship’s bottom crushed to destroy the balance of the warship and the bow couldn’t leave the shipway, leading to a serious accident,” it added.
The report did not indicate any casualties as a result of the error, focusing instead on Kim’s wrathful comments at having been forced to witness the disaster.
“The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un made stern assessment saying that it was a serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness,” KCNA relayed, “irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism which is out of the bounds of possibility and could not be tolerated.”
Kim attributed the failure to “irresponsible errors” and listed “relevant officials of the Munitions Industry Department of the WPK Central Committee, the Mechanical Institute of the State Academy of Sciences, Kim Chaek University of Technology, the central ship designing institute and other relevant units and the Chongjin Shipyard” as those responsible for the accident. The report noted that Kim ominously vowed that those he deemed responsible would “have to be dealt with … and censured.”
The North Korean regime would appoint an “accident investigation group” to identify the guilty parties, the report concluded.
The report did not indicate that Kim was accompanied on this occasion by his daughter and presumptive successor, Kim Ju-ae, believed to be about 12 years old. The younger Kim has becoming an increasingly common presence in official Kim events in the past three years, most recently appearing at an event at the Russian embassy in Pyongyang to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II.
The South Korean military separately verified the KCNA report, stating that it had been observing a major naval event in Chongjin and was aware of the accident.
“South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities had been tracking and monitoring signs of the launch of a large vessel at North Korea’s Chongjin Port in advance,” South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Sung-jun told reporters on Thursday, according to the South Korean JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. Lee told reporters that the launch had “failed.”
JoongAng noted that other South Korean officials told reporters that the ship did not appear to be irreparably damaged and, citing experts, suggested that the accident could have been the product of Kim pressuring military officials and mechanics to hit unrealistic deadlines for the full preparation of the ship.
“The reason Kim Jong-un ordered emergency repairs before the party’s June plenary meeting is likely that he judged that the work could be completed by then, according to the official,” the newspaper reported. “Experts suggest that the accident may have stemmed from Kim Jong-un’s impatience to achieve outcomes that either match or surpass those of his predecessors, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il.”
Following the failed destroyer debut, North Korea engaged in the symbolic firing of several cruise missiles, shot towards the East Sea/Sea of Japan. The missile firings did not result in any damage and did not appear to be targeting anything in particular. North Korea regularly engages in this sort of missile firing to intimidate the South and Japan.
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