Satellite imagery captured what remained of a mangled 5,000-ton North Korean naval destroyer damaged during its launch ceremony this week, leaving the country’s dictator distraught.
A photo captured by Maxar Technologies of the northeastern port of Chongjin, shows the ship apparently twisted and lying on its side, partly lodged on a launch slip and partly submerged in water.
The secretive communist nation covered the would-be warship with a blue tarp.
Mexar Technologies also snapped a satellite photo of the ship before the launch, looking pristine as it prepared for its first voyage.
But that voyage was put on hold after a flatcar guiding the ship failed to move during the launch, throwing the warship off balance and crushing parts of its bottom before its stern eventually slid down the launch slipway into the water, state media reported.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was reportedly fuming over the botched launch, which was intended to show the nation’s military might but instead became an embarrassment on the world stage.
State media also reported on Kim’s fury.
He reportedly blamed military officials, scientists and shipyard operators for a ‘serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism.’
The extent of the damage to the destroyer is unclear, though Kim demanded that repairs be completed before the communist Working Party’s meeting in June.
The dictator, known for his brutality as much as his secrecy, ominously warned that during that meeting, mistakes caused by the ‘irresponsibility of the relevant officials’ would be investigated.
Under Kim’s rule, North Korea has been focused on building an arsenal of military weapons in what it regards as a response to western aggression.
In March, Kim personally oversaw tests of AI-powered suicide drones, unmanned exploding drones that can be used to launch an attack without putting the attackers’ lives in danger. He reportedly called for an increase in production of those drones.
He also recently claimed the country was in the process of building a nuclear submarine.
In its first real showing of military force since the Korean War in the 1950s, an estimated 15,000 troops were sent to Russia to fight alongside the fellow communist nation in its war against Ukraine.
South Korea claimed in late April that 600 of those troops had been killed.
