North Korea has commissioned the Choe Hyon (51), the first of four planned 5,000-tonne Choe Hyon-class guided-missile destroyers and the largest warship the country has ever built. Leader Kim Jong Un presided over the ceremony at the Nampho shipyard on 23 June, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), with the event also reported by Naval News and Janes.
Kim used the occasion to signal that the Korean People’s Navy is moving toward a nuclear-armed force.
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The ship and its weapons
The Choe Hyon is about 145 metres long and displaces roughly 5,000 tonnes. It is North Korea’s first ocean-going warship and will serve with the West Sea Fleet of the Korean People’s Army Navy (KPAN). The ship was launched at Nampho in April 2025, then spent about 14 months in sea trials and modification before entering service.
The destroyer carries 88 vertical launch system (VLS) cells – 64 aft and 24 forward – across several cell types, plus eight inclined launchers in the superstructure. With its other launchers, the ship appears able to carry up to 104 missiles.
Its gun and close-in armament include a 127mm main gun at the bow, two six-barrel 30mm close-in weapon systems (CIWS) resembling China’s Type 730, and a Russian Pantsir-M-type air-defence mount aft. The ship also carries torpedo tubes, decoy launchers, and a new 12-tube anti-submarine launcher on each side. It is fitted with four fixed phased-array radar panels and an electronic-warfare suite.
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A nuclear-armed navy
Kim said the navy is becoming a force with “strategic capabilities,” and that a program to arm it with nuclear weapons is “progressing as planned,” according to KCNA. At the ship’s launch in April 2025, he had claimed it would be able to carry nuclear-armed strategic cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles.
These are claims carried by North Korean state media, and outside analysts have not independently confirmed the ship’s nuclear capability.
North Korea uses the word “strategic” for systems it ties to nuclear weapons. Applied to the navy, the label points to an intent to put nuclear-capable missiles to sea.
The navy described the commissioning as ending more than 70 years of stagnation. Kim called it a “new chapter,” and said the service – long the weakest branch of the armed forces – would now grow.
Bigger fleet ambitions
Kim set out plans that go well beyond the Choe Hyon. He said the second ship in the class, Kang Kon (52), would enter service soon, and that North Korea would follow with a new class of 10,000-tonne “strategic” cruisers – twice the destroyer’s displacement.
He set a target of building two major warships a year, aiming for a fleet of around a dozen by the early 2030s. The plans mark a shift from coastal defence toward a blue-water navy with greater reach.
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