Kim orders North Korea to build two destroyers a year

Kim Jong Un ordered North Korea to build two warships as large as the 5,000-metric-ton Choe Hyon every year for the next five years, setting a pace that would test the country’s shipyards and its claims of rapid naval modernization. He delivered the order at the Choe Hyon commissioning ceremony at Nampho port, after the ship completed 14 months of operational tests. Kim also said the Kang Kon destroyer would be deployed soon and that North Korea ultimately aimed to field 10,000-ton strategic warships.

The target is ambitious even for a state that treats military milestones as political proof points. CSIS’s Beyond Parallel says the Choe Hyon is the largest warship ever produced by North Korea and the lead vessel of the Korean People’s Navy’s first destroyer class. The analysis says the ship includes an air-defense system with the Russian Pantsir-M, a detail that points to growing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow. It also says fitting out, manufacturer’s trials and navy acceptance trials will take considerable time before the ships can be fully operational, which leaves a wide gap between launching hulls and putting them to sea as usable combat power.

The program is still carrying the stain of a failed launch. The second Choe Hyon-class destroyer, later named Kang Kon, partially capsized during a launch attempt on May 21, 2025, at Chongjin. CSIS and 38 North say the damaged ship was later moved to Najin for repair and relaunch, a reminder that North Korea’s destroyer drive has been marked by setbacks as well as spectacle. Kim’s new production target suggests the leadership is not slowing the program despite that public failure.

Kim framed the navy’s buildup as part of a broader deterrence package, not a separate prestige project. He said the navy’s nuclearization was advancing on its own course and would contribute to national nuclear deterrence, tying the surface fleet to North Korea’s missile and nuclear forces. 38 North said the Choe Hyon fired multiple Hwasal-class cruise missiles during March sea trials, giving the destroyer a visible role in the regime’s weapons narrative. For South Korea, Japan and the United States, the more important question is not the launch ceremony itself, but whether North Korea can sustain a shipbuilding tempo that would gradually expand its ability to project force, protect maritime approaches and complicate regional defense planning.