PYONGYANG, Aug. 19 — Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), visited the destroyer Choe Hyon on Monday.
Kim learned about the course of the integrated operation test of the weapon system, and the training and life of the sailors on the destroyer, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday.
Kim, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, expressed satisfaction over the fact that the major task for making the navy high-tech and nuclear-armed is progressing on a stage-by-stage basis as planned, said the KCNA.
He underlined the need to move on to the next stage, the process of assessing the performance and capability for conducting operations of the ship in October as planned, it said.
On the same day, Kim received a report on the third Choe Hyon-class new-type multi-mission destroyer being built at the Nampho Shipyard and its long-term plan, and had a conversation with technicians and experts in the field of the shipbuilding industry, said the report.
The DPRK’s navy is performing its duty in the major space of national defense, Kim said, adding that it is the most important state task to rapidly develop the capability for operations of the navy.
Noting that the United States and South Korea launched a joint military exercise on Monday, he said that “the gravity is increasing from the characteristics that they are recently plotting a military nexus with the nuclear element involved.”
Destroyer Choe Hyon is the first of the Choe Hyon-class 5,000-ton new-generation destroyer. (Xinhua)
