Kim Plans Nuclear Enhancement for North Korea's Navy

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a directive through state media which directed his forces to move forward with nuclear weapon arming for naval vessels. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un released the instruction during his first day of observing nuclear weapons tests for the new destroyer Choe Hyon according to the state news agency Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

 “Saying that the time has come to make a responsible option for accelerating the nuclear armament of the navy in order to defend the state and maritime sovereignty from the existing and future threat, he set forth different tasks for realizing it,” KCNA reported.

State media released photographs Saturday about the launch of the Choe Hyon as Kim Jong Un appeared with his daughter Ju Ae whom experts identify as his most likely successor. Newly commissioned by North Korean media under the name of a late North Korean anti-Japanese combatant it possesses a 5,000-ton destroyer-class configuration which took over twelve months to construct according to KCNA. The military experts suggest the ship holds capabilities to launch ship-to-surface and ship-to-air missiles based on its size as reported by specialist outlet NK News which disclosed the possibility of tactical nuclear missile equipment.

During his March visit to a submarine production site Kim declared that “radically” improving the naval forces served as a foundational element of North Korean defense systems. The country needed to transform both its surface fleet and underwater forces according to Kim during that period. The years have seen Pyongyang making claims about underwater nuclear attack drones to generate radioactive tsunamis yet experts remain unsure about actual possession of this weapon. Together with Washington the main backbone of security for Seoul has increased its joint military drills and deployed high-profile American naval assets surrounding the Korean Peninsula to warn the North. The North Korean government asserts its permanent status as a nuclear power while it continuously views US-South Korea military exercises as preparation for militaristic aggression.