North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the naval destroyer Kang Kon to oversee a navigation test, state media said on Saturday, stressing the need to enhance the navy’s capability to deter a nuclear war.
The Saturday report came as Beijing and Pyongyang announced Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea from June 8 to 9, after Xi hosted back-to-back summits with US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin last month.
Kim has in recent years vowed to strengthen North Korea’s naval capabilities and, in May 2025 oversaw the botched launch of the destroyer Kang Kon, which was later repaired and relaunched a month later.
“During the trip on Thursday, Kim addressed the importance of rapidly developing the naval force into a force capable of reliably taking charge of a part of the nuclear war deterrent," Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
“Building a navy capable of delivering a ‘deadly blow’ to enemies above and below the water is a core goal of the ruling party’s current five-year defence development plan,” Kim said.
Images released by Pyongyang’s state media showed the North Korean leader visiting the vessel with top officials and his daughter, Ju Ae.
Since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s 2019 summit with Trump collapsed over the scope of denuclearisation and sanctions relief, Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an ‘irreversible’ nuclear state.
Since then, the war in Ukraine has emboldened Kim, who has secured critical support from Moscow after sending thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces.
Last year, Kim appeared alongside China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin at an elaborate military parade in Beijing, a striking display of his new, elevated status in global politics.
