Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un's Speech
at Ceremony of Launching Destroyer of Navy

of Korean People's Army

Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un made
a speech at the ceremony of launching a destroyer of the Navy of the Korean
People's Army on April 25.
His speech is as follows:
Dear officials, workers and technicians of the Nampho Shipyard, which is a
reliable large-scale warship-building base and is famed for the tradition and
strength of self-reliance, and other workers and scientists in the shipbuilding
sector,
Dear courageous commanders and sailors of the East Sea and West Sea
fleets of the Navy of the Korean People's Army and the cadets of the naval
university,
And respected demobilized generals, who are present here today with great
pride in having long and wholeheartedly worked at important posts of our
Navy,
Comrades,
Moored in front of us now is a giant warship, symbolic of the changed
appearance of our Navy.
I cannot suppress my emotions as I see the new-type warship, which is
indispensable in building up our capability for stoutly defending our maritime
sovereignty and which will represent an important starting point of our journey
towards building an advanced maritime power.
I feel infinitely honoured to proclaim the birth of the first warship of a new
generation, which the Navy of the heroic KPA will be equipped with.
First, I would like to extend warm thanks to the workers, technicians and
officials of the Nampho Shipyard, who have presented immense strength and
militant enthusiasm to our Navy by wonderfully building this powerful multi-
mission destroyer, true to the line of the Workers' Party of Korea and the
government of the Republic on strengthening the naval forces.

I also offer militant encouragement to the scientists, technicians and workers
in the shipbuilding sector and the relevant persons, who are working hard for
steady creation and development as the main force of the revolution in the
warship-building industry in the new era.
My congratulations go to the officers and men of the East Sea Fleet of the
Navy of the KPA, who will receive and operate the new-type destroyer, as well
as to the commanders and crewmen, who will serve on this warship.
The more I see the imposing appearance of the new-generation multi-mission
attack destroyer No. 1, which our proud working class have built by their own
efforts and which is mooring on the blue sea of our motherland, the more
majestic it looks.
I feel quite moved to picture that this destroyer will navigate the territorial
waters of our motherland with our sacred national flag hoisted.
And I feel quite at ease at the thought that our territorial waters will become
more peaceful with the help of this destroyer.
The emergence of this destroyer has made a breakthrough in modernizing our
naval forces.
To explain the hardware of the destroyer, an ensemble of our self-reliant
defence technology, it is equipped not only with anti-air, anti-ship, anti-
submarine and anti-ballistic missile capability but also with weapon systems
for the most effective ground striking operations, like hypersonic strategic
cruise missile, tactical ballistic missile and other means of strike. So it is
capable of performing multi-mission surface operations and thus increasing
the possibility of direct intervention by the Navy in the ground operations.
This is one of the things of great significance in view of the military theory.
This warship will be handed over to the Navy and launched into operation in
early next year after going through the necessary procedures, like the
assessment of its performance and capability for conducting operations and
the test of operation of its integrated equipment.
We will, of course, build warships of this class next year, too. And we are
planning to build in the shortest time possible a cruiser, whose operations
capability is greater, as well as escort ships of various classes, and are now
examining their master plans at the final stage.

We will execute this plan of building multi-mission destroyers year by year,
and these ships will sail for operations in ordinary times in the coastal
defensive waters and intermediate waters.
Indeed, I would like to express my emotions again and again.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of our country's liberating itself from
imperialist colonial subordination and regaining its national sovereignty. On
April 25 in this meaningful year, the birthday of the first revolutionary armed
forces of Korea, we have launched a powerful destroyer as an ensemble of
our great national power, so this launching ceremony is more significant.
The dawn of the Korean revolution, the establishment of state power which
signified that the Korean people achieved their right to independence, and
their nearly-a-century-long struggle in defence of the country's sovereignty
have been directly associated with the Juche-oriented armed forces, and the
people have achieved victory after victory by relying entirely on these forces.
For us, April 25 is the starting point of a bloody armed struggle that began
before the establishment of our state power and the founding of our Party and
brought about all the momentous events.
This can be described as the birth of our people's first-ever genuine armed
forces, and at the same time a demonstration of the resolute stand of the
Korean revolutionaries who were determined to fight with a clear purpose and
consciousness and carve out their destiny independently.
This was a day when they solemnly expressed their decision to take the road
of armed struggle as their volitional and responsible choice, and their will to
regain national sovereignty and establish a democratic government with
indomitable revolutionary faith and through a death-defying struggle. Such is
our generation's renewed understanding of April 25, 1932, a day bearing a
more important political meaning than February 8, 1948, the birthday of
Korea's first regular armed forces.
This renewed understanding of the historic weight of April 25 reminded us,
when we were fixing this significant day as a day of this meaningful ceremony,
of a veteran general who had left remarkable imprints in the glorious history of
the Juche-oriented revolutionary armed forces.

This state-of-the-art multi-mission destroyer standing in front of us was
classified as a Choe Hyon-class vessel, and, as stated just before, this first
warship was named Choe Hyon.
General Choe Hyon, a faithful comrade-in-arms of the great leader
Comrade Kim Il Sung, is well known to the Korean people. Though his
career was not specially associated with sailors, we named the first destroyer
of a new generation after him, who lives in our memories as a symbol of
bravery and mettle. This is because we hope our sailors' spirit will be
impregnated with his soul so that the Navy will achieve victory unprecedented
in the annals of its history.
Comrades Kim Chaek, An Kil, Choe Hyon, Kang Kon and all the other
commanding officers of guerrilla origin were genuine generals of practical
abilities. They loyally supported the great leader and assisted him with
unshakable faith and remarkable military qualifications; they performed
considerable exploits in liberating our country by organizing armed ranks on
the principle of fighting the Japanese independently, in building our state and
army in their initial days and in repulsing the allied imperialist forces.
The elite warships, which will serve as new symbols of our state's self-
defensive capabilities, should naturally raise as their colours the idea upheld
by the first generation of our Juche-oriented revolutionary armed forces. And
by faithfully carrying forward their forerunners' courage and indomitable spirit,
our sailors should regard it as their absolute mission to fight self-sacrificingly
to defend the dignity of their country and the safety of their fellow people.
Other new-type destroyers to be built in the future will be named after the anti-
Japanese revolutionary forerunners who distinguished themselves as
renowned fighters and performed brilliant feats in the history of army building.
Over the past nearly eight decades the Navy of the Korean People's Army has
repelled dangerous attempts at invasion on countless occasions and
defended the maritime sovereignty, which is the core of our national
sovereignty. The history of our Navy shows that the seas of our country are
defended by its sailors' spirit.
During the war and in the subsequent decades our Navy was inferior to the
enemy in the number of sailors and the level of armament, but it added
eternal glory to the victorious history of the heroic KPA and built barriers of no

retreat in the maritime gateways, which had been traditionally used as routes
of invasion.
All these exploits cost our sailors precious blood and even lives, which cannot
be fully explained in relation to the characteristics of their duty–defending the
country's territorial waters that have never been peaceful over the past
decades. Such ennobling exploits could not have been achieved if the sailors
had not displayed their incomparable spirit for national defence and heroic
fighting mettle.
Present here are the former generals of the Navy, who, during their service,
displayed their unbounded self-sacrificing spirit and indomitable fortitude
without veering even an inch from the sacred course. They thus achieved
imperishable exploits to be etched forever in the history of our country's Navy
for national defence.
A change of generations has taken place in our honourable Navy's ranks.
However, the great spirit of our forerunners should be invariably carried
forward, the spirit which they displayed by shedding blood in the rough seas
with no marks of borderline in order to defend our Republic's sovereignty. This
spirit, along with the indomitable courage and perseverance possessed by the
founding generation of our armed forces, should shine brilliantly as our eternal
soul of defence.
The destroyer Choe Hyon, which has been launched today, and other latest
warships to be built will re-energize the heroic fighting spirit of our sailors and
inject infinite vigour into them, thereby encouraging them to perform immortal
feats to be admired by the coming generations.
Comrades,
That new-type destroyer will soon navigate the territorial waters of our
Republic along the sacred course for defending its sovereignty, reflecting our
people's burning desires for peace and prosperity.
For our state, the seas on its east and west are bases that are directly linked
with the people's living, and they also belong to key territories over which it
exercises its sovereign power.
A powerful navy guarantees peace and development–herein lies a geopolitical
peculiarity of our country as a maritime state. Proceeding from this, as has
ever been since the founding of our armed forces, it is our most pressing and

natural option to quickly develop and incessantly expand the fighting
capability of the Navy.
The maritime sovereignty of our state can be defended only by its naval
supremacy.
In recent years, after we advanced a revolutionary line of strengthening the
Navy, the anchor was raised for warship modernization with the birth of the
first entity of this line. With this as a momentum, our Navy has secured its
place as a powerful service responsible for one of the country's independent
defence capabilities. In particular, as part of the nuclear war deterrent, it can
enhance its position in the realm of nuclear use. This has resulted in the Navy
growing more adaptable to the use of war deterrent.
Our destroyer will play an important role of firmly defending our maritime
sovereignty and national interests in the territorial waters of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.
Now our Navy has taken the first step of the times towards practical growth by
leaps and bounds.
What we experience at this moment is extremely impressive as we are surely
proud that we have at last kindled the initial spark of the new era's revolution
in strengthening the Navy, as we have already declared.
Research, development and production of all modern equipment of the
destroyer were a costly and hard challenge. But its overall armament system
is based on the solid foundations of our self-supporting defence industry. So,
we have a substantial guarantee for the effectiveness of its equipment
operation, not to mention its military and economic significance.
This destroyer is perfect as planned, in all aspects ranging from designing and
hull construction to on-board weapon systems. Seeing this entity, we can
proudly say that a radical change has taken place in warship building.
Actually, this is a monumental product of the revolutionary industry that
showcases the might of our defence science and technology and the
inexhaustible creativity of our intelligent and loyal working class.
The workers, technicians and officials of the Nampho Shipyard, by dint of
strenuous exertion, utmost sincerity and irreproachable work style, have

proved the veracity of, and the inevitability of victory in, the revolution in the
warship-building industry as decided upon by our Party.
As an authoritative shipbuilding base with a history spanning nearly eight
decades, the shipyard has built numerous vessels of varying sizes and kinds.
Its shipbuilding techniques are admirable, and what impresses me more is the
heroic mettle of its workers, who I am sure must have spent hundreds of days
and nights working strenuously to complete their tasks unconditionally and as
scheduled, in support of the Party's line of effecting a revolution in the
warship-building industry.
On behalf of the DPRK government and all the people, particularly the officers
and men of our Navy who are more excited than anybody else at this
moment, I would like to express my greatest thanks and extend my warmest
greetings once again to the workers, technicians and officials of the Nampho
Shipyard for having wonderfully built the first destroyer of a new generation.
Comrades,
The present security environment for our state is very serious and the
situation demands that we effect a drastic and rapid change in the existing
military theories and practices and expand our nuclear armaments radically.
The security environment around the DPRK is as unpredictable as the
changeable weather in the sea.
It is highly volatile, its tenseness and instability already having gone well
beyond the danger limit.
The armies of the United States and its vassal countries, in disregard of the
DPRK's concern for security, are aggravating the situation by engaging in
provocative manoeuvres on a regular basis.
Recently, we have witnessed more of their moves growing dangerous.
The United States is bringing strategic strike means into the Korean peninsula
at a level of constant deployment.
Worse still, the themes of its recent various military drills unambiguously
reveal their aggressive character, casting off the cloak of being annual and
defensive.

As our government commented some time ago, in 2024 the enemies set a
new record by staging anti-DPRK war drills at unprecedented levels
throughout the year, and this year, too, they are radically expanding their
political and military provocations against us.
They have taken practical measures for action, openly revealing their intention
to remain most hostile and confrontational to the DPRK, and become ever
more undisguised in renewing all their past records.
Most recently, the US military opened to the public that last year it drew up a
new wartime operations plan in collusion with the ROK army.
In his written answer to a hearing of the Armed Services Committee of the US
House of Representatives, the commander of US forces in the ROK wrote
that in 2024 the US and ROK military signed a new joint wartime operations
plan, which had been completed over the past several years, and practically
verified the plan through various allied joint military rehearsals.
It is no secret that during the joint military rehearsal in March last the US and
the ROK applied OP-PLAN 2022 to jointly operate the nuclear forces of the
US and the conventional forces of the ROK and conduct a drill of aggressive
nature simulating nuclear strike against the DPRK, and we have already given
a serious warning to the enemy states for their provocative signals.
The fact that the man in command of the US-ROK allied forces made public
the existence of a new operations plan for unleashing a nuclear war on the
Korean peninsula is an outspoken expression of a frenzy of confrontation
against the DPRK and an open escalation of the clash-provoking situation.
In the 1990s, OP-PLAN 5027 of the US and the ROK simulating an all-out war
against us was opened to the public only to create a touch-and-go situation on
the Korean peninsula, and the political and military situation in and around the
Korean peninsula was brought to the worst stage for years after OP-PLAN
5015, which additionally included a preemptive strike strategy, was mapped
out in 2015. Such facts clearly show the consequences to be entailed by the
new wartime operations plan of the US on the security environment of the
region.
The new nuclear war plan of the US and the ROK is an expression of their
clearest will for fighting a war against the DPRK and poses a direct threat to
the peace and security in the region and the rest of the world.

The mastermind behind the escalating tension on the Korean peninsula is
none other than the US and its vassal allies that have become more daring in
their military manoeuvrings for transplanting NATO's infrastructure in the
region and raising the level of war preparedness.
The project of the US and the ROK to make preparations for translating a
nuclear war into reality has reached the gravest stage. This situation and its
development prospect show us more clearly what we must attach importance
to and what we must do.
We will surely cope with such a geopolitical crisis and developments, and take
countermeasures.
As for our nuclear policy which has been officially enshrined in the basic law
of the DPRK, it was adopted in correct reflection of the state's apprehension
about its security exposed to the existing and future threats, and the present
reality highlights the validity, justness and necessity of the line of building up
our nuclear forces.
Most recently, I saw to it that our intention was made public through our
external news service.
If the US keeps renewing its records in demonstrating its military muscles, we
are also compelled to break the records of exercising the strategic deterrent.
This is a legitimate counteraction.
The enemies are well-advised to refrain from trying to test our will to fully
exercise our right to mobilize without hesitation all the means in our hands for
the purpose of defending the sovereignty and security interests of the state.
We will continue to make steady efforts, full of redoubled self-confidence, to
further round off the nuclear defence posture based on the strong
counterattack capability everywhere in the sky, on the land and on the sea
and, by dint of overwhelming strength, thoroughly deter various military
activities of the enemies that constantly deploy huge strategic assets, posing
serious threats to the sovereignty and interests of our state.
Today's launch of this destroyer is only the start of the project for modernizing
our naval forces. However, it is a perfect demonstration of our grand ambition
to build up the fighting capability of our Navy in keeping with the priority

requirement for the state's security and the global trend in developing the
naval forces.
Now is not an era of merely having a dream, but that of just translating the
dream into reality.
It is no use dreaming an idle dream for hundreds, nay thousands of days; it is
no better than dreaming no such dream.
What we are planning in the effort to strengthen the naval forces is to put the
latest-type warships, capable of satisfying all the demands of national defence
strategies, into commission at the earliest possible date with crucial
importance given to the radical growth of the warship-building industry, and
thus develop the Navy of our Republic into a modern service superior not only
in the political and ideological aspects but also in the military and technical
aspects.
Building multi-mission destroyers can be called a key to attaining this goal.
Even the enemies, who boast about their supremacy in marine operations and
warships, cannot ignore such warships.
We will further accelerate the work of strengthening the surface and
underwater forces, and continuously exert ourselves to equip the warships
with new-generation hi-tech means and complex offensive and defensive
systems and to improve and reinforce the coastal infrastructure.
Obtaining operational capabilities on the oceans is the most reliable means
for controlling positively and safely the military threats pregnant with the use
of nukes on the Korean peninsula and for containing and blocking the
enemy's schemes to dispatch its additional overseas troops to the peninsula
in case of emergency.
We are now planning to build a fleet for ocean operations that have long been
around as a byword for the imperialists' aggression.
This is a demand put forward by the present reality facing us.
Our enemies that have formed the most reactionary military bloc and been
sailing around the Korean peninsula are all maritime states; and the
bridgeheads for their overseas aggression, the assembly points of their forces
and their logistics bases are also located on the oceans and their coastal
waters.

The stark reality, in which the oceans are turning into the first battlefield,
clearly teaches us what the reliable policy is to defend our national
sovereignty and peace.
From the point of view of strength, the strength that can make aggression is
directly proportional to the strength that can check aggression.
The term that refers to the level of the most reliable war deterrent is, in a
word, a super-powerful capability for preemptive strike.
The forces that are capable of committing aggression and the forces that are
actually committing it can be overwhelmed and repulsed only by the forces
that are on an equal footing in terms of strength.
The defence line and policies of our state regard it as their mission to
safeguard the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests,
but, if an unavoidable, necessary situation presents itself for this mission, we
will never hesitate to choose the preemptive employment of the most powerful
military muscles.
The range of employment of this preemptive striking capability is not limited to
any place or to any line.
That is why our Navy can never limit its operations to our territorial waters to
safeguard the national sovereignty and interests, but must stretch its fighting
capability to the oceans.
This is the best option for the defence of the territorial integrity and complete
peace of our state and a fair and square exercise of the right to self-defence.
No more explanation is needed about our maritime strategy to build up the
capability for launching into any waters in the world so as to check on our own
initiative the aggression by the enemy states and mount a preemptive or
ultimate retaliatory attack on them.
As a warship equipped with such capability, Choe Hyon, to be launched today,
is an epitome that gives a glimpse into the future of our naval forces.
We can say that the building of this new-type destroyer has made a
breakthrough for the historic sacred cause of rapidly raising our country to the
status of a maritime power in the 21st century.

Today's ceremony of launching a new-type destroyer will serve as a signal
flare for strengthening the Navy of the DPRK.
And the second signal flare will be just the building of a nuclear-powered
submarine.
Comrades,
At present developing the shipbuilding industry has risen as a vital task for
strengthening the naval forces and a main strategic task for safeguarding the
national sovereignty.
Though it is a road new to us, we have a correct goal and methods and the
strength with which to follow it.
Policies have been set forth to accelerate the qualitative, quantitative and
technical transformations and signally improve the operational capabilities in
building warships, and long-term plans for developing the industry of building
various warships and grand plans for building warships have already been
approved.
In the course of this, our warship-building industry is taking on the appearance
of a modern industry, and has accumulated the self-confidence and
experience for building any types of advanced warships with its own efforts
and technology.
This makes stronger our will for the rejuvenation of warship-building industry
and the building of a maritime power.
I believe that the officials and workers of the Nampho Shipyard who, with the
building of this new wonderful destroyer, have now stood in the vanguard of
the struggle to develop the warship-building industry and build up the Juche-
oriented naval forces of the country, will turn out as one under the uplifted
banner of realizing modernization of the shipbuilding industry and effect
another revolution in warship building.
I expect your vigorous and proactive struggle which surpasses all the efforts
you have made until now.
Leading officials of the Party and the state, as well as senior officials of
various sectors, should also fulfil their important mission and tasks, entrusted
by the era of revolution in the warship-building industry, through active
participation and unstinted contribution.

Comrades,
Witnessing this great reality that helps us draw a full picture of our
shipbuilding industry's potentials and development prospect, I feel assured
and proud.
Now everyone feels dignified and pleased with the strengthening of our Navy,
and is offering congratulations on it.
This must be a high appreciation of the great exploits the Navy has performed
for the country and its devotion and reliability displayed in the struggle to
defend our national sovereignty and interests, and an expression of their
earnest desire for the growth and development of our Navy, which will make a
rapid rise to the status of a world-class service.
There is and there must be no limit to the rapid growth of the national defence
capability and to our ideals which we are desirous of and are striving to
achieve.
Our history of Navy building, which the world witnesses with a new eye, has
set sail now and will make vigorous advance. In this advance, we will not rest
even a minute.
Dear officers and men of the Navy,
Let us pay respect to the destroyer Choe Hyon, which will be famed as an
invincible warship for its association with the peerless heroism and
indomitable spirit of the dauntless anti-Japanese war general.
His soul and banner will illuminate the sea route of our sailors and help them
always record victory in their ship's log.
I wish the officers and men of the Navy success and glory.
Glory to our heroic naval forces!
Long live our great state, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea! -0-