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6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Partially Submerged North Korean Frigate Appears Upright Again In Satellite Image
North Korea looks to be making progress in recovering the second in its Choi Hyun class of frigates, which rolled over and was partially submerged after an incident at its launch ceremony last month. Recent imagery of the warship indicates that it has now returned to an upright position, although the target of restoring the frigate before the end of this month remains highly dubious. 38 North, a website devoted to the analysis of North Korea, today published satellite imagery from Airbus Defense and Space, of the scene at Chongjin Shipyard on June 2, as seen in the social media post below. This appears to show the warship upright for the first time since the failed launch on May 21. Though there is light cloud cover overhead, the flight deck — specifically the markings for the helipad — looks to be visible at the stern, and the ship's overall profile has changed. This is quite incredible speed. The image is partially obscured by cloud, but the capsized North Korean warship is now upright again. What makes it even more impressive is they apparently did it all manually. : Airbus Space and Defence/38 North, June — Martyn Williams (@ 2025-06-03T18:28:44.771Z The vessel, which has an estimated displacement of 5,000 tons, is the second of its class, following the Choi Hyon, which was officially unveiled in April. You can read all about the heavily armed class of frigates in our previous detailed analysis and follow-up report. 38 North notes that workers can be seen pulling ropes from the quay, in an attempt to manually right the warship, in a separate satellite image from Airbus Defense and Space taken on May 29. At least 30 buoys and/or airbags can be seen alongside the vessel, presumably to help stabilize it. Some reports have suggested these were barrage balloons, although that doesn't appear to make any sense in this case. At this stage, it's not possible to determine the level of damage that the frigate sustained during its abortive launch. 38 North suggests that the launch mechanism may have become stuck in the ship's bow, pinning it onto the land while the stern slipped into the water, after which the boat overturned. In the May 29 imagery, there appears to be damage around the bow section. If the ship has been successfully righted, what the next steps might be in the repair process are unclear. There is not a dry dock that the vessel could be moved into readily at Chongjin if that level of work is required. At the same time, taking it to another yard could be a challenge, especially if there is serious damage to the hull. Seeking outside help, including from Russia or China, could be an option. A floating dry dock could be especially useful in this instance. North Korea's latest naval destroyer has been significantly damaged prior to its launch. In a rare acknowledgment, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported yesterday an incident occurred with a new destroyer in Chongjin, which was close to being launched. — Open Source Centre (@osc_london) May 22, 2025 I made a .gif showing the DPRK frigate in position to launch and then, er, "toes up" in the water. — Dr. Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) May 22, 2025 North Korean state media has previously claimed that there is no serious damage to the warship, which is at best highly questionable if not impossible. '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 hull starboard was scratched, and a certain amount of seawater flowed into the stern section through the rescue channel,' per a report from KCNA on May 23. 'The extent of damage to the warship is not serious, and the result of the flooding process immediately after the accident is 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.' At the very least, the North Korean shipyard appears to have made significant progress on the initial recovery of the ship, more or less in line with official estimates. 'Experts estimated that it will 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,' KCNA also said in its May 23 report. On that same day, TWZ obtained satellite imagery showing the stricken vessel still covered with blue tarps, but now with two steel cables connecting it to a shipyard dock, as the recovery effort began to take shape. Bearing in mind the embarrassing and highly public nature of the incident, and the fact that the launch ceremony was attended by dictator Kim Jong Un, there is very much an imperative to get the warship repaired, at least outwardly, as soon as possible. Kim called the incident 'a criminal act' and promised that the officials found responsible would be 'dealt with at the plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee' this month. This is a high-level meeting of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party. At least three shipyard officials have been detained as part of a subsequent investigation. The head of the Chongjin Shipyard, Hong Kil Ho, was initially summoned by state law enforcement officials, but does not appear to have been detained. A senior North Korean Communist Party official, Ri Hyong Son, was also summoned. Looks like Ri Hyong Son, a senior party official, is also taking the fall. — Dr. Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) May 25, 2025 Earlier this month, Kim also called for the frigate to be restored before this same meeting, something that was met with widespread skepticism outside of North Korea. While returning the frigate to an upright position would be an achievement, there will very likely be a lot more less obvious but critical work ahead. How it sits now upright, with one part in the water and the other on shore, is also a precarious situation in itself. The degree to which the incident and its aftermath have been played out in view of the public is certainly noteworthy. Unusually, Pyongyang announced details of the incident soon after it happened, including comments from Kim, in an apparent effort to control the narrative. Coupled with the availability of satellite imagery, this now means that there will be an even greater focus on the recovery efforts, especially given Kim's fantastical timeline for its restoration. Contact the author: thomas@
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Partially Sunk North Korean Frigate Recovery Effort Seen Underway In Satellite Image
A day after an embarrassing mishap during a launch ceremony attended by dictator Kim Jong Un, North Korean authorities are trying to right the 5,000-ton frigate. The warship rolled over and partially submerged after a premature slide into the water at the Chongjin Shipyard. You can read more about the incident that Kim called 'a criminal act' in our initial coverage here. New satellite imagery obtained by The War Zone shows the unnamed vessel, the second in the Choi Hyun class of frigates, still covered with blue tarps, but now there are two steel cables connecting it to a shipyard dock. 'The cables are likely for temporary mooring, tensioning, and stabilizing in order to prevent further movement or rotation and ensure structural safety.' Jennifer Jun, Associate Fellow for Imagery Analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told us. 'North Korea mentioned that they need to pump up seawater from the flooded chamber, which will change the balance of the vessel as well and requires some sort of stabilizing support. You can read all about the heavily armed class of frigates in our previous detailed analysis and follow-up report. 'Experts estimated that it will 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 official North Korean KCNA News Agency reported on Friday. North Korean officials also expressed optimism about the ship's condition. '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 hull starboard was scratched and a certain amount of seawater flowed into the stern section through the rescue channel,' the officials claimed. 'The extent of damage to the warship is not serious and the result of the flooding process immediately after the accident is 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.' Kim Jong Un's fury inducing crippled in botched sideways launch destroyer spotted TODAY under blue tarps 2nd Choe Hyon-class North Korea destroyer is sunk, leaning on her starboard side, bow over slipway. Wonder why tarps also over slipway. Hiding pieces or what? — Tom Bike (@tom_bike) May 22, 2025 The War Zone cannot independently verify North Korea's claims about the ship's condition, though it is not surprising that they would try to downplay the damage. A Washington-based think tank that closely follows North Korean shipbuilding questioned Pyongyang's stated timeline for recovery. While 'too early to say definitively without being on the ground…I do have some skepticism about the 10-day period estimate, given that the vessel is heavily tilted and partially submerged,' Jennifer Jun, an Associate Fellow for Imagery Analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told us. 'We also know that the vessel has been partially flooded, and the slipway infrastructure was likely damaged. Even if North Korea manages to right the vessel within the '10-odd days,' restoring its original capabilities will almost certainly take longer. I'd also be remiss not to mention that given the political stakes, those responsible for reporting this to Kim have strong incentives to downplay the extent of the damage.' As we noted in our previous coverage, the accident unfolded as the frigate was side-launched from its quay, in a new development for North Korea, which has previously used slipways to put large naval vessels into the water stern-first. Beyond Parallel, a project within CSIS, offered a detailed analysis of what could have happened, based on satellite imagery collected May 22. You can read more about that here. Jun on Friday told us that the new imagery does not change CSIS's assessment of what caused the ship to capsize. 'The new images from Maxar and Planet from today do not change our analysis at this point,' she explained. 'We see the recovery operation still underway, with more (small) support vessels employed to support it. The stern is still in the water and the vessel does not seem to have moved since yesterday's image.' In addition to downplaying the extent of the damage, North Korean officials also said an investigation was underway into what happened. 'The Party Central Military Commission instructed the investigation group to investigate and expose the cause of the accident which should never occur and could not be tolerated and those responsible for it,' KCNA News Agency reported on Friday. 'No matter how good the state of the warship is, the fact that the accident is an unpardonable criminal act remains unchanged, and those responsible for it can never evade their responsibility for the crime. Regarding this accident as a serious matter is not because of the damage to the warship or economic loss. The aim of doing so is to deal a telling blow to incautiousness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricist attitude prevailing in any field and to sound an alarm bell.' As part of the investigation, Hong Kil Ho, manager of the Chongjin Shipyard, 'was summoned to the law-enforcement organ on May 22.' "Hong Kil Ho, manager of the Chongjin Shipyard, was summoned to the law-enforcement organ on May 22."I would very much not want to be Hong Kil Ho right now. — Dr. Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) May 22, 2025 After the incident, North Korea made the highly unusual move of announcing what happened, including comments from Kim, in an apparent effort to control the narrative. 'Kim Jong Un made [a] stern assessment, saying that it was a serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility … and could not be tolerated,' KCNA reported yesterday. Kim said that the officials found responsible would be 'dealt with at the plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee' in June. This is a high-level meeting of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party. At the same time, Kim called for the frigate to be restored before next month's meeting. As with the North Korean assessment about the timeline for the ship's recovery, that claim is extremely dubious given that repairs are likely to be extensive. With the ready availability of satellite imagery, it will be hard for North Korea to hide the material state of the vessel, as well as the progress of the recovery and restoration efforts, even with the bizarre attempt to use blue tarps to cover it up. We will continue to keep a close eye on the developments. Contact the author: howard@
