Pyongyang, June 24 (KCNA) — The respected Comrade
The full text of his speech is as follows:
Workers of the Nampho Shipyard and scientists, technicians and officials in the shipbuilding and defence industry sectors,
Officers and other sailors of the destroyer Choe Hyon, who will write the first page of the glorious log in the history of our Navy,
All commanders, officers and other sailors of the Navy of the Korean People’s Army,
Comrades,
This is a day when we are feeling a great emotion, whose significance cannot be fully described in one hundred, nay, one thousand words.
This destroyer, a powerful naval combat system which even we recognize with admiration, is going to be commissioned for the Navy at last, and a new chapter of history will be written for the defence of the sacred maritime sovereignty and airspace of Korea.
At this moment, when the wish of all the generations of our Navy for a most powerful warship and of other people for all the things on this land, beautiful and precious, to be defended at all costs is to be realized, I would like first of all to extend warmest greetings of gratitude once again to the workers of the Nampho Shipyard and the talented persons and officials in the shipbuilding and defence industry sectors, who have worked devotedly day and night with ardent patriotism.
To transform the appearance of our Navy, which we should build up with an ardent desire and aspiration to translate the design into reality, is never plain sailing, but we are now doing it at exponential speed.
In the whole course of building and testing this destroyer, the first of its kind in the history of our Navy and our armed forces, we have confirmed the satisfactory result that the warship is possessed of the most perfect, complex operational and combat capability.
We can feel due pride in the fact that the Choe Hyon is a warship that can creditably perform its operational mission in any waters.
From the first step, we planned and started building this large warship, which is completely new, by our own efforts and loading it with our own weapon systems; so we could apply unparalleled technology and power to this ship and accelerate its building at an unbelievable speed.
We can now affirm that there is no insurmountable technological barrier for us in building and launching destroyers and cruisers of different classes that embody our style of principles and original concepts of navy building.
Furthermore, we have laid solid foundations for our shipbuilding industry, all the elements of which are self-supporting and conform to the actual situation; we have also acquired a thorough knowledge of the methodology for ensuring maximum military and economic efficiency in operating a vessel.
We are now switching over to the stage of building various surface and underwater combat systems and deploying them offshore and in the oceans without feeling any restrictions.
Such huge projects have been turned into reality beyond our imagination. This success is an ensemble of the wisdom, techniques and united efforts of all the scientists, technicians, workers and officials in the shipbuilding and defence industry sectors.
Comrades,
In our era, when everything is undergoing change, we are witnessing the quickest and clearest change in the Navy.
In less than three years after we declared that we would transform the Navy without fail, our Navy has put an end to over 70 years of its stagnation.
In looking back upon the day of the declaration, it is no exaggeration to say that modernization of the Navy started virtually from scratch.
In terms of military hardware, the Navy was the weakest of all the services of our armed forces.
It can be said that our seas have so far been safeguarded thanks to our sailors’ death-defying spirit of defence and matchless bravery alone.
But, things have changed obviously now.
The combat capability of our Navy will grow to be admirable beyond imagination.
Today’s ceremony of transferring this warship constitutes an event that will help to measure the speed of our Navy’s change.
Our brave Navy has displayed a matchless spirit in fighting against the pirate-like enemy, striking terror into them, as they have incessantly resorted to provocative moves taking advantage of their superiority on the sea, that is, their superior warships. Now I feel really pleased to have equipped our Navy with a sophisticated warship.
Today, June 23, 2026, is witnessing the first page being written in a new chapter of our Navy’s history of safeguarding the sacred maritime sovereignty of our state on the strength of invincible warships.
We may call it an anxiety that comes of its own accord; what is worrying me at the moment is that we have no base to moor such large warships as this one.
This is certainly a happy cause of anxiety.
In the past there has been no need for such a base, I dare say.
It, however, has now posed itself as an urgent, essential task to build modern naval bases.
This is in no way because we have attained a greater area of land or sea.
Nor is it because the sea off our country is shallower than it was.
This is just because we have got a greater ambition.
This is what has changed about us.
This compelling requirement itself serves as clear proof that we have got an ideal of a higher level.
Yesterday at the Second Plenary Meeting of the Ninth Party Central Committee, we discussed and made a decision on building new bases for our naval fleets.
When we say our Navy is changing, we do not simply mean that its vessels are becoming larger in size or that their equipment is getting advanced technology.
The most important change and the most significant progress worth mentioning is that it has taken a different position, a different mission and a different area of waters its action covers, and accordingly it will achieve a different result.
It has clearly become a thing of the past when our Navy existed as a force for defending the sea off our land.
It is rising into a full-fledged service equipped with strategic means as the programme of equipping the Navy with nuclear weapons is following its planned course unerringly.
This is a strategic course of crucial importance as it will make it possible to keep the nuclear force of our state ready for multifaceted and efficient operation and hold an initiative in military activities for maritime defence and war deterrence by attaining a further unmistakable nuclear war deterrent which is powerful and trustworthy enough.
The Navy of the Korean People’s Army is provided with as great a cruising power as to send its warships to any waters it chooses, and it is given an assignment to keep patrol of the waters where military assets and bases of the enemy countries are deployed, for preemptive clearing if necessary.
Now it is obvious that any attempt for aggression, made either on the sea or under the sea to endanger the security of our state, will end in greater achievements on the part of our fleets.
Comrades,
The waves raised by this destroyer will surely create the first storm putting an end to the history stained with mistaken practices, and our enemies, struck with terrible fear and anxiety, will confirm the performance and might of our warship.
Following the Choe Hyon, we will soon commission destroyer Kang Kon for operations. After that we will launch 10 000-ton strategic warships one after another.
Our warships’ ceaseless appearances and their routes will reliably defend the maritime sovereignty of our state and bring about a change in the military balance in the region.
Only when we do so without fail, can the security of our state, and the present and future of this country be defended more firmly.
Entering a new phase of its development, our Navy has assumed a new historic mission at a new starting point.
As a country deploying the most sensitive strategic assets in the most important waters, we will demonstrate our principled and responsible will in defending the sovereignty of our Republic, the security environment of Northeast Asia and global peace, and make a renewed and greater contribution to that end.
Comrades,
The Navy’s change and development speed represents the growth speed of the national strength, and the position of the state in the oceans defines its mightiness, I think.
We must have such superior warships as this destroyer as many as we need, not some in a symbolic way.
As we have pushed our way to this day with a courageous challenging spirit, we should continuously go all out for carrying out these historic and crucial tasks so as to raise the operational capability of our Navy to the strategic level at the earliest date.
In the new five-year plan period, we should correctly implement all the plans for building up our naval capability; we should build every year two surface ships, whose class is higher than the Choe Hyon, including 10 000-ton cruiser. And we should build escort ships and ships of special purposes, and develop and produce underwater weapon systems.
It is encouraging that our warship-building industry is developing rapidly, but what makes us more pleased is that the consciousness of the people is changing as they see this reality and feel pride in their own strength.
Our competent research group and the Juche-based warship-building industry have become consolidated in the course of pioneering the revolution in the warship-building industry and more resourceful in the course of turning the seemingly impossible into a miracle. They will renew the symbols of our naval forces every year.
The composition of the weapon systems of the warships to be built in the future will continue to improve to conform, in military aspects, to the actual requirements and its development.
As I have mentioned before, we should give a spur to the building of large and multi-functional naval bases and push ahead with the work of building modern port cities that can serve as centres of naval operations command and culture.
Comrades,
We have taken the helm of rising as the strong and existing as the eternal winner.
We will surely emerge as a defence leader capable of fully demonstrating its national strength in the ocean thousands of miles away.
We must not mark time even a moment on the journey we have started, but make greater and more vigorous strides.
Comrade officers and other sailors of the Choe Hyon,
Your motherland, Korea, has given you a spear and shield permeated with its strength and great ambition.
Let us advance vigorously, cheerfully and bravely along the new sea route of defence opened up by the new era for the security and glory of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and for the dignity and honour of the Navy of the Korean Peoples’ Army.
Comrades,
I propose another warm round of applause in congratulation of this moment decisive of the history of our Navy. -0-
www.kcna.kp (2026.06.24.)
