‘Serious' accident at North Korea warship launch: state media
Kim watched the entire incident and declared it a 'criminal act caused by absolute carelessness', warning it 'could not be tolerated'.
He said the 'irresponsible errors' of officials responsible would be 'dealt with at the plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee to be convened next month'.
South Korea's military said US and Seoul intelligence authorities assess that North Korea's 'side-launch attempt' of the ship failed.
'The side-launch method used in this case is no longer employed by South Korea's military,' Lee Sung-jun, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.
The vessel was listing in the water, Lee said, and based on its size and scale, it was believed to be similarly equipped to the 5000-tonne, destroyer-class warship Choe Hyon, which North Korea unveiled last month.
Last month, Pyongyang's state media ran images of Kim attending a launching ceremony of Choe Hyon with his daughter Ju Ae, considered by many experts to be his likely successor.
North Korea claimed the vessel was equipped with the 'most powerful weapons' and that it would 'enter into operation early next year'.
Some analysts said the ship could be equipped with short-range tactical missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads – although North Korea has not proven it has the ability to miniaturise its atomic arsenal.
Russian connection?
The South Korean military has said the Choe Hyon could have been developed with Russian help – possibly in exchange for Pyongyang deploying thousands of troops to help Moscow fight Ukraine.
Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, said the warship involved in Wednesday's accident may have also been constructed with Russian assistance.
Chongjin, the North Korean city where the launch ceremony was held, is close to Russia's Vladivostok port, he noted.
'It's also likely that the projected timeline for the vessel – including when assembly would be completed and the ship launched – was shared with the Russian side,' he told AFP.
'It appears the dock was hastily constructed, and multiple issues may have arisen during the shipbuilding process.
'With today's announcement, Pyongyang seems to be signalling not only to its own people, but also to the Russian side.'
Strengthening the navy
North Korea confirmed in April for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia to support Moscow in the Ukraine war.
Moscow and Pyongyang recently announced that they had started building the first road bridge linking the two countries.
North Korea also launched a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.
In March, Kim inspected a project to build a nuclear-powered submarine, asserting that 'radically' boosting the navy was a key part of Pyongyang's defensive strategy.
Kim called at the time for the modernisation of the country's surface and underwater naval forces, including the development of warships.
Pyongyang has previously claimed to be developing underwater nuclear attack drones, which could unleash a 'radioactive tsunami', but analysts have questioned whether it actually had such a weapon.
Washington – Seoul's key security ally – has in recent years ramped up joint military exercises and increased the presence of strategic US assets in the region to deter the North, such as an aircraft carrier and a nuclear-powered submarine.
Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an 'irreversible' nuclear weapons state and routinely denounces joint US-South Korea drills as rehearsals for invasion.
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RNZ News
13 hours ago
- RNZ News
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NZ Herald
16 hours ago
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NZ Herald
18 hours ago
- NZ Herald
‘He really miscalculated the reaction' - new curbs on anti-corruption watchdogs have alarmed Ukrainians
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'I'm here to show we are against that.' The law, which was adopted by the parliament and signed by Zelenskyy, places Nabu and Sapo under the control of the general prosecutor's office, which critics say effectively abolishes their independence. The two institutions were the main anti-corruption bodies created as part of an aggressive campaign against public graft and other malfeasance since Ukraine's 2014 Maidan Revolution, when hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in part because they were fed up with rampant corruption under President Viktor Yanukovych. The two bodies functioned free of outside control. Yesterday, Zelenskyy, who had tried to frame the law as a way of strengthening the anti-corruption effort, met the heads of the country's law enforcement and anti-corruption bodies, including Nabu and Sapo. After the meeting, however, Nabu and Sapo issued a joint statement, saying that the 'legislative changes adopted yesterday significantly limit' their independence. 'To restore full and independent work, clear and unambiguous steps are needed at the legislative level to restore the guarantees that were abolished by parliament,' the statement said. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who attended the first protest on Wednesday, posted on social media that those responsible for the law were 'dragging Ukraine faster into authoritarianism'. Ukrainian lawmakers who voted against the bill said Zelenskyy severely underestimated both the domestic and international reaction to the move, which is seen as an effort to rein in officials tasked with independently investigating corruption cases - including those that may reach close to the President's inner circle. The move appeared to reflect Zelenskyy's growing distance from the generation that ushered in a new democratic era after the 2014 revolution - many of whom are now among those fighting on the front lines for the same democratic values they championed on the streets more than a decade ago. 'The scariest thing is that it will be used by our foes,' said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a lawmaker from Ukraine's European Solidarity Party, who fears outsiders will use the debacle to try to paint Ukraine as a nation that remains mired in corruption. Klympush-Tsintsadze, who worked extensively on Ukraine's bid to join the EU, voted against the law. Protesters gather on a road leading to the Ukrainian president's office. Photo / Ed Ram, for the Washington Post Russia, which has long amplified the narrative of corruption in Ukraine, was quick to leap on the development, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying yesterday that American and European tax dollars have 'been plundered'. 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'As a candidate country, Ukraine is expected to uphold these standards fully. There cannot be a compromise.' On Tuesday, agents from Ukraine's security service, the SBU, the general prosecutor's office, and the State Bureau of Investigation raided Nabu offices, claiming the existence of a 'Russian 'mole' in one of the bureau's elite units,' SBU head Vasyl Maliuk said. Many Ukrainians flatly rejected the Government's justifications for the law, however. The move against the agencies also comes a month after Nabu opened a criminal case against Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov on charges of 'abuse of office and receiving undue benefits in substantial amounts for himself and third parties'. It was one of the highest-level corruption cases since Zelenskyy became president six years ago, targeting one of the closest allies of his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak. Chernyshov denied the charges, but he lost his position in last week's government reshuffle.
