Kim Jong Un slams ‘serious accident’ at warship launch

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has condemned a “serious accident” during the launch of a new warship on Thursday, calling it a “criminal act” that could not be tolerated.

Parts of the 5,000-ton destroyer’s bottom were crushed, tipping the vessel off balance, state media reported.

Kim, who was present at the launch, has ordered the ship be restored before a key party meeting in June, and for those involved in designing the ship to be held responsible for the incident which he said “severely damaged the dignity and pride of our nation in an instant.”

State media reports did not mention any casualties or injuries as a result of the incident.

Kim attributed Thursday’s accident, which took place at a shipyard in the eastern port city of Chongjin, to “absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism”.

He added that the “irresponsible errors” of those involved will be dealt with at a plenary meeting next month.

It’s not clear what punishment they might face but the authoritarian state has a woeful human rights record.

People can be jailed for almost anything, activists have said, from watching a South Korean DVD to trying to defect.

It is uncommon for North Korea to publicly disclose local accidents – though it has done this a handful of times in the past.

Last November, it described the mid-air explosion of a military satellite six months earlier as a “gravest failure” and criticised officials who “irresponsibly conducted preparations” for it.

In August 2023, the state blamed another botched satellite launch on an error in the emergency basting system, but said it was “not a big issue”.

Thursday’s incident comes weeks after North Korea unveiled a new 5,000-ton destroyer on the country’s west coast which it said is equipped to carry over 70 missiles.

Kim had called the warship a “breakthrough” in modernising the country’s naval forces and said it would be deployed early next year.