NKorea Claims Progress on Nuke Army    06/24 06:14

   

   SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea has commissioned a 5,000-ton 
destroyer that leader Kim Jong Un touts as a symbol of the country's growing 
naval and nuclear capabilities, state media reported Wednesday, as Pyongyang 
seeks to expand its ability to project military power at sea.

   North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim told a 
commissioning ceremony Tuesday at the western port of Nampo that warships such 
as the Choe Hyon show that the nuclear armament of his navy is progressing as 
planned.

   KCNA said the Choe Hyon was formally placed into service with North Korea's 
navy after the ceremony and will be tasked with defending the country's western 
coast.

   Since unveiling the ship in April 2025, Kim has portrayed the Choe Hyon as a 
major step toward expanding his military's operational reach and preemptive 
strike capabilities. KCNA has said the warship is equipped with a range of 
systems, including anti-aircraft and anti-ship weapons as well as 
nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles.

   South Korean officials and experts say the vessel was likely built with 
Russian assistance amid deepening military ties between the countries, but some 
analysts have questioned whether it's ready for active service.

   North Korea has put the Choe Hyon through a series of tests in recent months 
ahead of its deployment, including launches of what it described as 
nuclear-capable cruise missiles from the vessel.

   "It has clearly become a thing of the past when our navy existed as a force 
for defending the sea off our land," Kim said in a speech at Tuesday's 
ceremony. "It is rising into a full-fledged service equipped with strategic 
means as the program of equipping the Navy with nuclear weapons is following 
its planned course unerringly."

   After years of spurring ballistic missile development, Kim has shifted his 
focus more toward naval capabilities, including the ongoing construction of a 
nuclear-powered submarine. Naval capabilities were also a key focus when Kim 
outlined his five-year military goals at February's Workers' Party congress, 
which included calls for intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of 
underwater launches.

   Kim, following a missile test aboard the Choe Hyon in March, claimed that 
his efforts to arm his navy with nuclear weapons would "constitute a radical 
change in defending our maritime sovereignty, something that we have not 
achieved for half a century." State media didn't elaborate on what Kim meant, 
but some analysts say North Korea may be preparing to formally declare a 
maritime boundary that could encroach on waters controlled by rival South Korea.

   As inter-Korean tensions worsen, Kim has repeatedly said he does not 
recognize the Northern Limit Line in the western sea, drawn by the U.S.-led 
U.N. Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The poorly drawn sea 
boundary has been the site of several deadly skirmishes in past years.

   North Korea unveiled in May 2025 a second destroyer in the same class as the 
Choe Hyon, but it was damaged during a botched launch at the northern port of 
Chongjin, prompting a furious response from Kim. The country later said the 
ship, named Kang Kon, was relaunched in June after repairs, but outside experts 
have questioned whether it's fully operational.

   Kim during Tuesday's speech said Kang Kon will also be entering service 
soon. North Korea also has separate plans to build a larger, 10,000-ton 
destroyer.

   Since his nuclear diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 
2019, Kim has accelerated the expansion of his nuclear arsenal and deepened 
ties with Moscow and Beijing. While maintaining a hard-line stance toward South 
Korea, he has left the door open to renewed talks with Washington, repeating 
Pyongyang's demand that the United States drop denuclearization as a 
precondition for reviving negotiations.

   Separately, South Korea's military said Wednesday it had taken into custody 
an unidentified North Korean soldier who crossed the heavily fortified 
inter-Korean border Tuesday night. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the 
soldier expressed an intent to defect and that relevant authorities were 
investigating the incident.