North Korea to great fanfare on Wednesday held the launching of its shining new 5,000-ton-class destroyer, the navy's most advanced warship to date.
During the launching ceremony watched by the world and directly witnessed by dictator Kim Jong-Un and several foreign ambassadors and top-level aides, “a serious accident occurred in the launch of the destroyer,” the North Korean propaganda outlet KCNA was forced to confirm.
The vessel toppled over in the sea after the failed launch, a spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to news reports
From the vantage point of the North Korean public, conditioned to worship Kim Il-Sung the "Eternal Sun" and the nation's founding communist father, the symbolism of the disastrous sinking of the destroyer was unmistakable.
As state media frequently reiterates about Kim's grandson, the "Supreme Commander":
"Let us further establish the sole leadership system of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un throughout the Party and society!"
Law enforcement authorities detained the chief engineer, head of the hull construction workshop, and deputy manager for administrative affairs at Chongjin Shipyard, who they said were responsible for the failed launch, KCNA said.“After watching the whole course of the accident,” KCNA said in English, Kim, in a “stern assessment,” pronounced what he had seen “a serious accident and criminal act” that “could not be tolerated.”
"Heads are sure to roll in Pyongyang as North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un, seeks scapegoats for the humiliating failure of the launch of a sleek new destroyer that was supposed to be the pride of the North Korean naval fleet," Donald Kirk wrote in a May 25 analysis for The New York Sun.
What happens after heads roll?
As Kirk noted: "In other words, the regime lost face before the world — the worst kind of humiliation."
What occurred at the Chongjin Shipyard is about more than repercussions for those responsible. Will this major loss of face have implications for survivability of Kim's dynastic regime?
Writing for the Wall Street Journal on May 24, Dasl Yoon noted: "Kim, the 41-year-old dictator, has a quality problem. His all-in bet on nuclear weapons left other aspects of the country’s military undeveloped. North Korea’s jets, tanks and ships are inoperable, outdated or defensive, weapons experts say. That leaves his prized arsenal potentially exposed as neighboring South Korea and Japan acquire weapons systems that can strike before a potential North Korean attack."
Kirk, a WorldTribune.com contributing editor, noted that, if Kim Jong-Un "lives up to his word, as he has often done in the past, members of the Workers Party munitions industry department, the Academy of Sciences’ mechanical institute, the University of Technology, the Central Ship Design Institute, and the shipyard at the east coast port of Chongjin, where the ship was manufactured, are all on notice. Judging from past precedent, executions, long imprisonments, and 'reeducation' or heavy labor under grueling conditions are all likely forms of punishment."
The incident “lowered the dignity and self-respect of our state in a moment,” Kim said, adding that the perpetrators would have to be “dealt with at the plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee.“
Kim, of course, is general secretary of the Party Central Committee.
Kim set a meeting of the Party Central Committee in June as the deadline for restoring the vessel. At stake are not just “practical” concerns, he said, “but a political issue directly related to the prestige of the state.”
Analysts say it's doubtful the ship can be repaired and launched in Kim's time frame. Satellite photos have shown the vessel on its side, much of it under water. Just getting it back into the drydock for reconstruction will not be easy.
