CHONGJIN, North Korea
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un has condemned a "serious accident" during the launch of a new warship on Thursday, calling it a "criminal act" that could not be tolerated.
Parts of the 5,000-ton
destroyer's bottom were crushed, tipping the vessel off balance, state media
reported.
Kim, who was present at the
launch, has ordered the ship be restored before a key party meeting in June,
and for those involved in designing the ship to be held responsible for the
incident which he said, "severely damaged the dignity and pride of our
nation in an instant."
State media reports did not
mention any casualties or injuries as a result of the incident.
Kim attributed Thursday's
accident, which took place at a shipyard in the eastern port city of Chongjin,
to "absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific
empiricism".
He added that the
"irresponsible errors" of those involved will be dealt with at a
plenary meeting next month.
It's not clear what punishment
they might face but the authoritarian state has a woeful human rights record.
People can be jailed for almost anything, activists have said, from watching a South Korean DVD to trying to defect.
It is uncommon for North Korea
to publicly disclose local accidents - though it has done this a handful of
times in the past.
Last November, it described
the mid-air explosion of a military satellite six months earlier as a
"gravest failure" and criticised officials who "irresponsibly
conducted preparations" for it.
In August 2023, the state
blamed another botched satellite launch on an error in the emergency basting
system, but said it was "not a big issue".
Thursday's incident comes
weeks after North Korea unveiled a new 5,000-ton destroyer on the country's
west coast which it said is equipped to carry over 70 missiles.
Kim had called the warship a
"breakthrough" in modernising the country's naval forces and said it
would be deployed early next year.
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