North Korea was set to launch a naval destroyer this week, demonstrating its latest achievements in nautical warfare capabilities.
That debut was spoiled on Wednesday when a malfunction of the launch slide caused severe damage to the bottom of the vessel, causing it to tilt and become immediately inoperable.
“Due to the inexperienced command and operational carelessness in the course of the launch, the launch slide of the stern has departed first and stranded as the flatcar failed to move in parallel, some sections of the warship’s bottom crushed to destroy the balance of the warship and the bow couldn’t leave the shipway, leading to a serious accident,” reported Korea Central News Agency, the media organ of the North Korean regime.
Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, who was in attendance and “watching the whole course of the accident” when the mishap occurred, reacted harshly to the embarrassment and said it “severely damaged the dignity and pride of our nation in an instant.”
“The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un made [a] stern assessment, saying that it was a serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism which is out of the bounds of possibility and could not be tolerated,” KCNA reported.
It is a bitter development after a similar warship was successfully launched just last month amid “rising tensions” with the United States.
Satellite images taken by South Korean intelligence firms show the site of the botched naval debut has been covered by a large blue tarp as engineers work to investigate and hopefully fix the damaged ship.
Kim called for the warship to be fixed and operational by the Workers’ Party of Korea plenary meeting at the end of June. That timeline will be a Herculean task for engineers.
Government and military failures are typically covered up or denied by the North Korean regime in order to preserve prestige and convey a sense of competence to its citizens.
However, Kim has been more open than his father or grandfather in allowing unflattering information to appear in the press.
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The supreme leader publicly cracked the whip on regional Workers’ Party of Korea leaders in January, accusing them of corruption and heavy drinking.
“These malpractices are not only a serious case that could undermine the foundations for strengthening our Party and make the county, occupying one-two hundredth of the country’s territory, a non-Party, non-political and non-socialist region, but also a dangerous signal which directly indicates that a privileged social stratum, seeking more special favours than the people by abusing their authority, may be formed,” the supreme leader warned at the time, according to state newspaper Rodong Sinmun.
The North Korean government also acknowledged failed satellite launches over the past two years, taking a softer tone and dismissing them as “not a big issue.”
