A North Korean warship that was sunk during its botched launch ceremony in front of the nation’s leader Kim Jong Un has been spotted as a mangled mess by satellite imagery.
The Choi-Hyun class frigate rolled over on its side during an unveiling on May 21 but has now been seen in a dry dock facility in the northern city of Rason.
The images, taken by US intelligence company Maxar, show the extent of the damage suffered by the yet-to-be-named frigate during the clumsy launch.
The ship was thought to have been towed roughly 50 miles from where it was manufactured, in Chongjin, and refloated earlier this month.
“Detailed underwater and internal inspection of the warship confirmed that, unlike the initial announcement, there were no holes made at the warship’s bottom,” the state-owned KNCA agency reported when the incident took place.
“The hull starboard was scratched, and a certain amount of seawater flowed into the stern section through the rescue channel.
“The extent of damage to the warship is not serious, and the result of the flooding process immediately after the accident is the only information necessary to take practical rehabilitation measures.
“The above-said data have no connection with the cause of the accident and the identification of its responsibility… Experts estimated that it would take two or three days to keep the balance of the warship by pumping up the seawater from the flooded chamber and making the bow leave the slipway, and 10-odd days to restore the warship’s side,” the Korean Central News Agency added.
The clean-up job was able to meet the 10-day deadline but, from the images, meeting Kim’s other lofty goal of restoring the vessel to its previous state by the end of June seems impractical.
The image-conscious regime will be keen to rectify the blunder but the mangled metal revealed via the satellites appears to have been flooded with seawater, according to experts who have analysed the pictures.
Reports have also suggested the intentions behind the ship’s launch could have been to put it to use for North Korea’s allies, chiefly Russia, due to its proximity to the border the two nations share.
This location also poses the possibility that Russian assistance has been lent during the manufacturing process, potentially in exchange for North Korean military presence in the war effort against Ukraine.
Both Western and South Korean intelligence agencies have speculated that Kim has dispatched thousands of troops to Ukraine in aid of Vladimir Putin, though the dictator only confirmed this in April.