North Korea using balloons to stop damaged warship from sinking deeper: satellite images
North Korea has deployed dozens of huge white balloons alongside its wrecked 5,000-ton-class warship to stop it from sinking further after a botched launch last week, new satellite images show.
The images captured by Maxar Technologies show the balloons surrounding the partially submerged vessel tipped on its side. It's also draped in blue covers to hide what has turned out to be an embarrassing failure for the hermit kingdom's leader, Kim Jong Un.
While the purpose of the apparent balloons is unclear, experts theorize that they are being used to swiftly repair the destroyer, according to CNN.
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4 Dozens of what appears to be white balloons surround the destroyed warship.
DigitalGlobe/Getty Images
Based on the object's shape and what look like tail fins, the white blobs look to be aerostat aircraft, which like blimps, get buoyancy from a lifting gas that allows them to float in air or in water.
'It looks like what appear to be balloons have been installed not to refloat the ship, but to prevent the ship from further flooding,' Rep. Yu Yong-weon, a South Korean National Assembly lawmaker and military analyst, told the outlet.
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Other experts explained that lifting the enormous warship out of the water could cause additional damage— the forward part of the vessel is still stuck on the pier as the rest of its body pulls it downward.
Using the balloons could keep the vessel in limbo as they make repairs.
4 The balloons are likely being used to swiftly repair the destroyer, according to experts.
DigitalGlobe/Getty Images
4 A satellite image shows the new North Korean warship at the harbour before launch on May 18.
via REUTERS
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But even the balloons might not be enough to save the warship — normal procedure would call for raising the ship from below.
'It is highly likely that the ship is under quite a lot of stress anyway,' said Nick Childs, senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
It is not clear how much damage the ship suffered when a transport cradle on the ship's stern detached early during a launch ceremony on May 23.
4 Kim Jong Un called the botched launch 'criminal act' and ordered the arrest of four individuals.
KCNA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
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Kim, who watched the disaster unfold, called the botched launch a 'criminal act' and ordered officials to rapidly repair the ship before the end of June.
Four people have been arrested, including the shipyard's chief engineer.
The vessel is Pyongyang's second known destroyer.
The failed launch proved an embarrassment to Kim, who is eager to build greater naval forces to deal with what he calls US-led military threats.
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