North Korea deploys warship Kim says can deliver ‘annihilating retaliatory strikes’

Kim Jong Un has commissioned a North Korean warship that he said could deliver “annihilating retaliatory strikes on an enemy,” presenting the vessel as part of Pyongyang’s expanding nuclear response system.

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annihilating retaliatory strikes on an enemy

The Kang Kon, named after a North Korean military leader killed during the Korean War, was formally deployed at Wonsan Port in Kangwon Province. Kim said the ship represented North Korea’s “self-respect and will” to defend its rights and interests. “The time has come for us to exercise our sovereignty at sea and under water,” he said, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA did not identify the Kang Kon’s weapons systems. It said, however, that the ship carried the same systems as the 5,000-tonne Choe Hyon, a warship launched in June. An earlier KCNA report said Choe Hyon-class destroyers could carry several types of weapons, including missiles that analysts say may be capable of carrying a nuclear payload.

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self-respect and will

Sunday’s ceremony marked the Kang Kon’s third launch. The destroyer partially capsized during its first commissioning in May 2025, then underwent repairs and relaunched the following month. It later completed additional repairs, sea trials and weapons testing in July this year.

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The time has come for us to exercise our sovereignty at sea and under water.

Kim said North Korea would demonstrate another stage of its naval buildup within eight months. He also said naval bases were being built on the country’s east coast and that Pyongyang would create new naval units and construct different classes of warships. North Korea describes its military expansion as deterrence against the United States and South Korea, while Kim has accused the allies of pushing the Korean Peninsula toward “the brink of a nuclear war.”

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the brink of a nuclear war