Golden Era of the Navy: North Korea to Build Two Destroyers Annually

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced plans to launch an extensive series of warships similar to the recently built destroyers over the coming years.

He stated this during his speech at the ceremonial launching of the second Choe Hyon-class destroyer.

The defense strategy outlined by the North Korean leader envisions rapidly strengthening the naval forces by building and deploying two destroyers annually. This plan is set to take effect starting in 2026.

He stated that these should be warships similar to or larger than the Choe Hyon-class destroyers, enabling the creation of necessary “counterattack forces and capabilities to prevent aggression.”

“Our mission to usher in the golden era of the Navy has entered a full-scale phase,” Kim Jong Un said.

The announced plans are actually close to the real capabilities of North Korea’s shipbuilding industry, which launched the lead ship of the series and the second destroyer in less than a year and a half.

The development of the destroyer fleet marks a significant milestone and the beginning of a new era for the North Korean Navy, which for decades has focused on diesel-electric submarines, while its surface fleet consisted mainly of small and medium-sized combat vessels — primarily missile boats, patrol boats, landing craft, and artillery boats.

The largest and most dangerous surface combat vessels of the North Korean Navy currently remain the three Amnok-class corvettes, each equipped with two quadruple launchers for cruise missiles and naval artillery.

The newly built destroyers will join the East Sea Fleet and further strengthen its missile arsenal capabilities in the Sea of Japan, symbolizing the higher military-political leadership’s focus on maritime confrontation with South Korea and Japan.

At the same time, since the 2010s, North Korea has been actively integrating its fleet into its nuclear deterrence system, launching the experimental Sinpo-B-class submarine, a ballistic missile submarine capable of underwater launches.

In 2023, the country completed the construction of its first fully operational diesel-electric submarine, the Sinpo-C-class vessel named “Hero Kim Kun Ok,” which features 10 vertical launch tubes for Pukguksong-3 missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads over a distance of more than 2,000 kilometers.

At the end of last year, suspicions also arose about the start of construction at a North Korean shipyard of a new submarine, which will surpass previous designs in size and be equipped with a nuclear propulsion system, becoming North Korea’s first nuclear-powered submarine.