Researchers from the United States said that North Korea appeared to have repositioned its Choe Hyun Class destroyer, which partially capsized after a botched launch ceremony.
Kim Jong Un said that the failure to launch the warship weighing 5,000 tonnes damaged the dignity of the country and promised to punish the people found responsible.
The 38 North programme which studies the nuclear-armed North said that commercial satellite imagery of June 2 showed the destroyer standing upright for the very first time since May 21’s accident.
Kim has ordered the ship to be restored in time for a meeting of the ruling party this month. Since the accident, North Korea says it has detained a number of officials.
In its report, 38 North stated that “Commercial Satellite imagery shows that workers at the Chongjin port have made a significant progress towards this goal.”
It was reported that workers were seen pulling tethers and perhaps using barrage balloons in an effort to manually right the ship. The images show the bow of the ship still on land with possible damage to sonar.
38 North stated that “to repair this ship, it will need to move out of the water and into either a large floating dock or graving Dock once afloat.” Chongjin shipyard, however, does not have this infrastructure.
Other military experts said that the east coast shipyard produces primarily fishing and cargo vessels, and has little experience in launching large warships like the new destroyer. (Reporting and editing by Clarence Fernandez; Josh Smith)
(source: Reuters)