North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un was left fuming this week when he attended the botched launch of a new 5,000-ton naval destroyer.

The launch, at the northeastern port of Chongjin, was intended to tout the communist nation’s military advancement but ended in embarrassment for Kim after the ship slid off a ramp and became stuck, state media reported.

The flatcar failed to move alongside the ship, throwing it off balance and crushing parts of the ship’s bottom, North Korean news agency KCNA reported. Its stern slid down the launch slipway while its bow section failed to leave the ramp.

North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un was left fuming this week when he attended a botched launch of a new 5,000-ton naval destroyer. (Contributor/Getty Images, left, Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, right.)

A report by the North Korea-focused 38 North website assessed last week that the destroyer in Chongjin was being prepared to be launched sideways from the quay, a method that has rarely been used in North Korea. The report said the destroyer launched in Nampo, in contrast, used a floating dry dock.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un talks to military members as he inspects projectiles during a visit to an airfield in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency, May 16, 2025. (KCNA via Reuters)

Kim has framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the United States and South Korea, which have been expanding joint military exercises in response to the North’s advancing nuclear program.

In March, Kim oversaw tests of newly developed AI-powered suicide drones and called for their increased production. He was seen walking with aides on what appeared to be an unmanned surveillance aircraft that resembles the U.S. RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude surveillance aircraft parked on the tarmac in the background.

Other images showed a fixed-wing drone zeroing in on a tank-shaped target then exploding in flames.

Kim has said that unmanned control and AI capability must be the top priorities in modern arms development.

Kim was also seen walking to a large aircraft with four engines and a radar dome mounted on the fuselage. Analysts have previously reported that North Korea was converting the Russian-made Il-76 cargo aircraft for an early-warning role to help augment the North’s existing land-based radar systems, which are sometimes limited by the peninsula’s mountainous terrain, London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a report in September.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walks alongside officials in March while overseeing tests of newly developed AI-powered suicide drones. (KCNA via Reuters)

North Korea also revealed this year that it has a nuclear-powered submarine under construction, a weapons system that could pose a major security threat to South Korea and the U.S.

Meanwhile, North Korea has sent between 11,000 and 15,000 military personnel to fight alongside Russia in the war against Ukraine in its first involvement in a large-scale conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War. 

The South Korean military assessed that around 4,700 of them have been killed or wounded.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.