North Korea’s Kim launches second nuclear destroyer as US-South Korea-Japan drills start

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un commissioned his second naval destroyer and called for building a more reliable nuclear deterrent, state media reported on Monday, as the US, South Korea and Japan began a trilateral military exercise he views as a security threat.
The development comes as North Korea dials up pressure on the US after rebuffing President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back a major military drill with South Korea in a conciliatory step towards Kim. Observers say North Korea wants to wrest bigger US concessions.
The destroyer Kang Kon was commissioned into North Korea’s navy in the eastern port city of Wonsan on Sunday at a ceremony attended by Kim and teenage daughter Ju-ae, whom South Korea’s spy service calls his likely heir. Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) photos showed the girl dressed in a white dress and blazer walking alongside her father on a red carpet, touring the warship and posing with sailors together.
The ship and the Choe Hyon, commissioned in June, are both 5,000-tonne destroyers equipped with nuclear-capable missiles, making them North Korea’s most advanced warships.

In a speech at the ceremony, Kim said the destroyers’ back-to-back commissioning instilled fear in the enemies as the nuclear armament of North Korea’s navy made it possible to exercise its nuclear deterrent in a more diversified, practical manner.
“Concerns of the enemies will be surely deepened,” Kim said. “We must establish more clearly a powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent, to put into practice the diverse and effective operation of our nuclear combat systems and further strengthen our military activities for maritime defence and war deterrence.”
KCNA did not specify what weapons systems might be deployed on the Kang Kon, but said it had the same systems as the Choe Hyon. A previous KCNA report said Choe Hyon-class destroyers could carry a range of weapons, including missiles that analysts said were capable of carrying a nuclear payload.
Kim said he would demonstrate another stage of North Korea’s naval build-up in eight months, KCNA reported, without giving details. He also said the construction of naval bases on North Korea’s east coast was under way and that the country would create new naval units and build different classes of warships.
Military drills
On Monday, the US, South Korea and Japan were set to kick off their five-day Freedom Edge exercise in the waters off South Korea’s southern Jeju Island. South Korea’s military recently said the exercise was defensive in nature and was meant to respond to North Korea’s nuclear threats.
Last week, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry accused the US of more clearly expressing its confrontational posture against the North. It cited the Freedom Edge exercise and US officials’ reported comments that the US remained committed to the complete denuclearisation of North Korea.
On August 21, the US and South Korean militaries ended their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise six days earlier than originally planned, after Trump said he ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the drill. Trump cited what he described as a good relationship with Kim, who views the drill as an invasion rehearsal.

But Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo-jong, shrugged off Trump’s outreach, saying just shortening the drill would not change its “provocative, aggressive nature”. North Korea launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea, apparently delivering on its previous threat to respond to the US-South Korean drill.
Kim has previously said he could return to talks if the US dropped its “hostile policy” against North Korea and respected what he called North Korea’s status as a nuclear state.
Kim and Trump’s earlier diplomacy collapsed in 2019 due to disputes over how much economic benefit North Korea should get in return for a limited denuclearisation step. Now with his advancing nuclear programme and deepened ties with Russia and China, experts say Kim has greater leverage than before.
Additional reporting by Reuters