{"id":145665,"date":"2026-09-07T07:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T07:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/145665\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T07:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T07:34:12","slug":"north-koreas-kim-launches-second-nuclear-destroyer-as-us-south-korea-japan-drills-start-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/145665\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea\u2019s Kim launches second nuclear destroyer as US-South Korea-Japan drills start"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un<\/a> 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<\/a> dials up pressure on the US after rebuffing President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s 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<\/a> concessions.The destroyer Kang Kon was commissioned into North Korea\u2019s navy in the eastern port city of Wonsan on Sunday at a ceremony attended by Kim and teenage daughter Ju-ae<\/a>, whom South Korea\u2019s spy service calls his likely heir<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

The ship and the Choe Hyon, commissioned in June, are both 5,000-tonne destroyers equipped with nuclear-capable missiles, making them North Korea\u2019s most advanced warships.<\/p>\n

\"NorthNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter, Ju-ae, watch the commissioning of the Kang Kon at Wonsan Port on Sunday. Photo: KCNA \/ AFP<\/p>\n

In a speech at the ceremony, Kim said the destroyers\u2019 back-to-back commissioning instilled fear in the enemies as the nuclear armament of North Korea\u2019s navy made it possible to exercise its nuclear deterrent in a more diversified, practical manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cConcerns of the enemies will be surely deepened,\u201d Kim said. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Korean leader Kim Jong-un commissioned his second naval destroyer and called for building a more reliable nuclear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[134,74,68571,12550,186,141,2371,31,34,137,33,57101,1332,36204],"class_list":["post-145665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-china","tag-donald-trump","tag-freedom-edge","tag-jeju-island","tag-ju-ae","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-kim-yo-jong","tag-korea","tag-north-korea","tag-russia","tag-south-korea","tag-ulchi-freedom-shield","tag-us","tag-wonsan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}