By Joyce Lee
SEOUL, Sept 7 (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said a newly commissioned destroyer would be part of a nuclear response system capable of delivering “annihilating retaliatory strikes”, state media KCNA reported on Monday, though it did not say whether the vessel would carry nuclear weapons.
North Korea has accelerated efforts to modernise its navy as Kim pursues a broader expansion of the country’s nuclear-capable forces.
At a commissioning ceremony in the port city of Wonsan on Sunday, Kim said deploying the new ship to the sea east of the Korean Peninsula sent a clear signal to North Korea’s adversaries.
“The time has come for us to exercise our sovereignty at sea and underwater,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
Kim’s daughter, known as Ju Ae, took a prominent role in the ceremony, wearing a white dress suit, standing beside her father to receive salutes, appearing on a giant screen above the cheering crowd and boarding the destroyer, KCNA photographs showed.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) believes that North Korea is continuing to take steps to position Ju Ae as Kim’s successor, a South Korean lawmaker said last week.
The 5,000-ton-class destroyer, the “Kang Kon”, is the second warship of its class to enter service, following the commissioning of the “Choe Hyon” destroyer on North Korea’s west coast about three months earlier, KCNA cited Kim as saying.
Kim said North Korea’s naval nuclear armaments were advancing, and the country would continue to expand what he called its most powerful strategic assets in key waters to protect its maritime sovereignty and regional security.
He added that the Kang Kon would form part of North Korea’s state nuclear response system.
‘SEA-BASED NUCLEAR DETERRENCE’
“Kim’s remarks are a public declaration that the destroyers will be used as platforms for sea-based nuclear deterrence,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies.
“The Kang Kon’s deployment to the sea to the east of the Peninsula is intended to deter U.S., South Korean and Japanese naval operations near the peninsula.”
South Korea, the United States and Japan began their annual “Freedom Edge” exercise on Monday in international waters southeast and south of Jeju Island, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The drill running until Friday involves major maritime and air assets from the three countries and is intended to strengthen deterrence and response capabilities against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, the JCS said.
KCNA did not specify what weapons systems might be deployed on the Kang Kon, but said it carried the same systems as the Choe Hyon. A previous KCNA report said Choe Hyon-class destroyers can carry a range of weapons, including missiles that analysts say are capable of carrying a nuclear payload.
Kim said North Korea would demonstrate another stage of its naval buildup in eight months, KCNA reported, without giving details.
“The eight-month timetable may signal the coming disclosure of another major strategic asset, rather than simply another surface warship,” Lim said.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Seoul would closely monitor developments and noted that nuclear armament of North Korea’s navy has been discussed since the Ninth Party Congress in February.
Kim also said the construction of naval bases on North Korea’s east coast was underway and that the country would create new naval units and build different classes of warships.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Kyu-seok Shim; Editing by Paul Simao, Edmund Klamann and Ed Davies)
