Kim Jong Un unveils 10,000-ton destroyer plan before Xi visit

North Korea said it plans to build a 10,000-ton destroyer and develop secret underwater weapons, a public display of military ambition that lands just as Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares to visit Pyongyang. The announcement, made after Kim Jong Un supervised a naval test on Thursday, signals that Pyongyang is trying to project strength on several fronts at once: toward Beijing, toward Seoul and Washington, and toward a domestic audience that is being asked to accept a far bigger military program.

State media said Kim ordered the navy to deploy the destroyer Kang Kon, along with another 5,000-ton warship, the Choe Hyon, as soon as possible. The 10,000-ton figure matters because it is the first time North Korea has publicly described a destroyer of that size, suggesting a shipbuilding effort more ambitious than outside analysts had previously seen. For a country whose naval forces are widely viewed as far weaker than its missile arsenal, the plan looks as much like strategic signaling as engineering.

The timing adds to that reading. Xi is expected to visit on Monday and Tuesday, when Beijing is likely to try to reassert influence over its only formal treaty ally. A South Korean analyst cited in the report said the moment could be intended to showcase military capability before the Chinese leader arrives. Kim appears to be reminding both China and North Korea’s adversaries that Pyongyang wants to be seen as an active military power, not a dependent one.

Kim’s message went beyond ships. State media said he argued that North Korea must strengthen naval capabilities to deter nuclear war and that the country needs powerful forces across land, sea and air. That fits with his recent call for an “exponential” expansion of the country’s atomic arsenal during a visit to a newly operational nuclear-material production plant, tying naval modernization directly to the regime’s nuclear strategy.

The spectacle also carried family politics. Kim was shown at the test alongside his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, who has become increasingly visible in state media and is widely read as part of succession signaling. North Korea’s shipbuilding record remains uneven, including a 2025 destroyer launch that partially capsized, a reminder that the regime’s military theater is still shadowed by real technical weakness.