{"id":145709,"date":"2026-09-07T08:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T08:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/145709\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T08:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T08:09:09","slug":"north-korea-deploys-warship-capable-of-annihilating-retaliatory-strikes-kim-jong-un-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/145709\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea deploys warship \u2018capable of annihilating retaliatory strikes\u2019 | Kim Jong Un News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leader Kim Jong Un says vessel will form part of Pyongyang\u2019s nuclear response system, strengthen naval forces.<\/p>\n

Published On 7 Sep 20267 Sep 2026<\/p>\n

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended the commissioning of a warship he said could deliver \u201cannihilating retaliatory strikes on an enemy\u201d, citing \u201cconstant threats\u201d, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).<\/p>\n

The Kang Kon, named after the North Korean military leader who was killed in action during the Korean War, was formally deployed at a ceremony at the eastern Wonsan Port in Kangwon Province on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

In his address, Kim said the warship \u201crepresents the self-respect and will\u201d of North Korea to defend its rights and interests, KCNA reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe time has come for us to exercise our sovereignty at sea and under water,\u201d Kim said, according to KCNA.<\/p>\n

He said that \u201cdangerous shadows must be erased\u201d and that North Korea was under constant threat in the \u201csea east of the Korean Peninsula and nearby waters\u201d, KCNA reported.<\/p>\n

KCNA did not specify what weapons systems might be deployed on the Kang Kon, but said it has the same weapons systems as the 5,000-tonne warship Choe Hyon<\/a> launched in June.<\/p>\n

A previous KCNA report said Choe Hyon-class destroyers can carry a range of weapons, including missiles that analysts say are capable of carrying a nuclear payload.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe commissioning ceremony of the destroyer \u2018Kang Kon\u2019, at Wonsan Port, North Korea, September 6, 2026 [KCNA\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ship was commissioned a day before the US, South Korea and Japan were set to begin a five-day military exercise in waters east and south of South Korea\u2019s Jeju Island.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s military said in a statement that the Freedom Edge exercise is defensive in nature and meant to respond to North Korean nuclear and missile threats as well as promote regional peace and stability.<\/p>\n

North Korea has previously slammed the trilateral drill as a \u201creckless show of strength\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sunday marks the third launch of the Kang Kon; the destroyer partially capsized<\/a> during the first commissioning in May 2025 before it was repaired and relaunched the following month. It underwent further repairs and sea trials before completing weapons testing in July this year.<\/p>\n

Kim\u00a0said he would demonstrate another stage of North Korea\u2019s naval buildup in eight months, KCNA said, without giving details.<\/p>\n

North Korea has accelerated efforts to modernise its navy as\u00a0Kim\u00a0pursues a broader expansion of the country\u2019s nuclear-capable forces.<\/p>\n

He also said the construction of naval bases on North Korea\u2019s east coast was under way and that the country would create new naval units and build different classes of warships.<\/p>\n

Pyongyang, which calls itself an \u201cirreversible\u201d nuclear state, frames the build-up as deterrence against Washington and Seoul. The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war, and Kim has accused the allies of driving the region \u201cto the brink of a nuclear war\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leader Kim Jong Un says vessel will form part of Pyongyang\u2019s nuclear response system, strengthen naval forces. Published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[198,134,141,31,344,154,34,2447,33,3815],"class_list":["post-145709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-asia-pacific","tag-china","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-korea","tag-military","tag-news","tag-north-korea","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-south-korea","tag-weapons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145709","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=145709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}