North Korea’s military failures in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

On May 21st, North Korea attempted to launch its 5000-ton destroyer, the Choe Hyon, into the waters, only to see the ship capsize during the process. The incident occurred in front of dictator Kim Jong Un, marking another major failure for the North Korean military. However, this was not the first failure of its kind in North Korea’s military advancements.

Destroyer on water, destroyer in water

Before proceeding to the analysis of accidents in North Korea related to the military-industrial complex, it is necessary to note that the DPRK regime still remains a capable, subjective and dangerous player on the geopolitical map. It still maintains its positions in the so-called new axis of evil, which Russia is building, involving its army in the murder of Ukrainians and threatening the entire civilized world with nuclear weapons.

So, let's start with a completely recent, but very revealing incident - one of the largest warships of the DPRK, the "Chye Hyon", weighing about 5 thousand tons, capsized during an attempt to launch.

Moreover, according to Tianran Xu, a senior analyst at the Open Nuclear Network in Vienna, who analyzed satellite images, the destroyer suffered significant damage.

 The expert said in a comment to Bloomberg that  hr can't tell from the satellite image alone how badly the ship is damaged. But he would assume that the ship has suffered structural damage.

The expert emphasized that the first destroyer of the same class, launched in April, underwent combat trials without power, which may indicate problems with the power plants.

As for the causes of such an accident, one of the largest South Korean news agencies, Yonhap, suggested that during the launch, the stern launch platform moved first and got stuck, preventing other parts from moving in parallel. As a result, some parts of the ship's bottom simply crumbled, leading to imbalance and loss of balance of the large-scale vessel.

North Korea's 500-ton destroyer capsized during launch, seriously damaged

Satellite image shows blue tarpaulin covering a North Korean destroyer at a shipyard in Chongjin, North Korea, photo: Open Source Centre

Campbell University professor and maritime expert Sal Mercogliano explained in an interview with CNN that If the ships don't move together, the stresses will tear the hull apart.

But there's another aspect of this wreck that interests us, namely the ideological one. The ship was to be the second major ship in the DPRK's navy that North Korea has unveiled in a row. Back in April, Kim unveiled the Choe Hyon, the country's first new destroyer in decades, and has stated his ambitions to build more destroyers, cruisers and frigates.

State propaganda described the Choe Hyon as a “new generation” warship, presenting it in a glamorous light. The Juche regime’s press positioned the April destroyer as a powerful boost to naval readiness amid the threat from the United States and South Korea.

However, whether buying into the propaganda or realistically assessing the threat, Western defense analysts called it a departure from the outdated Soviet-style ships that the Soviet Union had supplied to the DPRK during the “friendship” era. However, later, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Sun-jung said that the ship damaged on Wednesday could have been equipped in the same way as the Choe Hyon, and therefore this could cast doubt on the country’s ability to build up its naval forces.

Equally shocking, the North Korean propaganda machine, including the Korean Central News Agency, has publicly admitted that a malfunction in the launch mechanism caused the stern of an as-yet-unnamed 5,000-ton destroyer to prematurely sink into the water on Wednesday, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow aground in the ship’s course.

And it happened in full view of the leader of the enslaved people, Kim Jong-un. Against this backdrop, he called the failed launch a “criminal act” and blamed it on the “absolute negligence” and “irresponsibility” of several state agencies, including the Department of Munitions Industry, Kim Chaek University of Technology, and the Central Ship Design Bureau. The latest statements stand out from the typical North Korean cries of “Western agents” and “interference by unfriendly capitalist forces.”

Law enforcement agencies subsequently detained three people "for legal investigation" in connection with the incident, including the chief engineer of the shipyard.

It is interesting how the DPRK plans to fulfill its promise to restore the destroyer in 10 days, if at least the chief engineer of the shipyard is currently allegedly behind bars.

Again the second launch and again the failure

The stranded destroyer is not the first failure and not even the first public recognition of it. Back in August 2024, the National Aerospace Development Administration of the DPRK carried out the second launch of the Malligyong-1 reconnaissance satellite aboard the new type of carrier rocket "Cholima-1" at the Sohae Cosmodrome in Cholsan County.

According to official statements by the North Korean propaganda mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency, the flights of the first and second stages of the rocket went normally, but the launch did not take place due to an error in the emergency detonation system during the flight of the third stage.

As reported by AFP, the launch was conditionally dedicated to the large-scale joint military exercises of Washington and Seoul, which took place the day before. And according to the testimony of Professor of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies named after Daniel K. Inoue Lamy Kim, the successful launch of a spy satellite into orbit would greatly improve North Korea's intelligence-gathering capabilities.

The professor added that Kim Jong-un said they are crucial for preemptive strikes - let's recall that North Korea's new nuclear law, adopted last year, enshrined the right to preemptively use nuclear weapons.

Although the DPRK admitted the failure, a representative of the South Korean Ministry of Unification explained that the reason for such actions was the advance notification of Japan about the launch, and therefore the regime should have quickly confirmed it.

"The most powerful weapon" that sank in the sea

And this time the North Korean military-industrial complex did not make friends with the water, but without admitting a mistake.

Back on November 3, 2022, the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, which was called one of the most powerful in the North Korean arsenal, was able to pass the second stage of the launch, but, as CNN reported, it then failed and fell into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

Again, the intensification of Pyongyang's series of missile tests is associated with the US and South Korean military exercises "Vigilant Storm". However, this time the failed launch backfired and the joint military actions of Seoul and Washington after the declassification of the failure only continued.

The DPRK objected to these exercises and, against their background, increased tensions on the peninsula, conducting a series of weapons tests. Already on Thursday, after the failed alleged ICBM launch, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Park Jong-chun, called the continuation of the exercises "a very dangerous and wrong choice," without mentioning the Hwasong-17.

Instead, the Japanese Ministry of Defense spoke about this situation, reporting that the alleged intercontinental ballistic missile was launched on Thursday morning from the west coast of North Korea at around 7:39 a.m. local time and flew about 750 kilometers (466 miles) before falling into the Sea of ​​Japan east of the Korean Peninsula.

Intercontinental missile "Hwansong-17"

Interestingly, the first confirmed successful launch of the Hwasong-17 ICBM took place six months before the failed one, in March 2022. At the same time, they allegedly recorded the highest altitude and longest flight duration among all North Korean missiles ever tested. However, of course, it should be taken into account that such records were reported by the North Korean Korean Central News Agency.

However, the November launch of a new super-powerful intercontinental missile, according to the Japanese Ministry of Defense, did not achieve even a third of the results of the March launch, which, again, was reported by the North Korean propaganda mouthpiece. And although the missile did not cross the country's airspace, Japan took this act of demonstrative aggression with full seriousness and began building shelters in the northern prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata.

As we can see, despite the obstinacy and repeated failures that they unsuccessfully try to mask, the world takes Kim Jong-un's army and its weapons quite seriously. And after full and recognized participation in the war against Ukraine side by side with Russia, we too have to reckon with the power and dangers of the  regime, because it already poses a direct and immediate threat.