June 23, 2025: Last month North Korea continued its efforts to salvage the Kang Kon, its second Choe Hyon-class DDGHM destroyer. The Kang Kon capsized while being launched. North Korean leader Kim Kong Un was furious at the embarrassing incident and his terrified subordinates rushed to get the Kang Kon operational. By June 13th, the Kang Kon was again ready for service. Or so it appeared. There was no indication that internal damage from the accident had been repaired. A lot of salt water got into the ship and that ruined a lot of essential equipment. Until the Kang Kon is observed at sea actually using its weapons and equipment, there will be doubts.

The Aang Kon is the second of two Choe Hyon-class destroyers. These 5,000-ton warships are the largest surface warships North Korea ever put into service. North Korea says it will build two more in the coming years. These 144 meter long vessels are the first to be equipped with a phased array radar and vertical launching system/VLS for storing and launching missiles from ships. The U.S Navy invented VLS in 1986 and currently has over 8,000 VLS cells deployed on surface warships and submarines. There are a total of more than 11,000 VLS cells in use worldwide. Nearly all are on ships of American allies. Russia, China and North Korea use a similar system.

North Korea is trying to upgrade its navy. This includes replacing 76 submarines from the 1960s and 80s with a dozen or more Chinese models, some of which can be equipped with ballistic missiles. North Korea is building these Type 33 submarines with some Chinese components. North Korea is also building a nuclear-powered submarine carrying ballistic missiles. This will not be successful unless they get more technical help from Russia or China. Equipping subs with nuclear power is very difficult and both China and Russia took decades to get it right.

The rest of the North Korean navy consists of ten elderly frigates and corvettes. Another one of these was converted into a mine sweeper. The remainder of the fleet consists of about a hundred patrol and missile boats, most of them built in the 1970s and 80s. Few are currently seaworthy. Similar situation with over 2,000 amphibious ships and boats.

In 2023 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss trade issues related to the Ukraine War. Russia needed more munitions, as in artillery shells and unguided artillery rockets. North Korea could also supply rifle and machine-gun ammunition, but Putin was most interested in the artillery munitions, which Russian troops did not have enough of in Ukraine and Russia could not produce enough to meet the demand.

In return North Korea wanted technology related to advanced nuclear weapons. Russia was able to send more food, but the nuclear technology was another matter. North Korea uses its primitive nuclear weapons to threaten South Korea and Japan. North Korea is militarily belligerent but has relatively primitive military capabilities compared to South Korea, Japan and the United States.

China has long refused to supply North Korea with this kind of assistance, fearing that North Korea would use it carelessly and recklessly. China disapproves of Russia providing this assistance to North Korea. As a major economic trading partner with Russia, Putin cannot ignore the Chinese concerns. In the long-term Russia needs China more than North Korea, but in the short-term Russia needs more artillery ammunition, which North Korea will supply but China won’t.

North Korea has a long way to go because the US Navy and those of South Korea and Japan are far larger and more modern than anything North Korea has. This impact has been demonstrated several times over the last few decades when North Korea sought to challenge their neighbors at sea and failed. For example, in 2009 there was a brief clash between North and South Korean gunboats off the west coast. The result was a humiliating defeat for the north. The main reason for this was the quality of the weapons on each side. The South Korea ship was a 150 ton patrol boat, armed 40mm and 20mm autocannon, and a computerized fire control system. The North Korean vessel was a 131 ton patrol boat with 37mm and 25mm cannon, and no computers. The South Korean ship was able to quickly put accurate fire on the North Korea ship, even though they were in rough seas and the ships were 3,200 meters apart. The North Korean gunboat was using 1960s technology, and their guns were firing manually. While the South Korean boat was hit by fifteen shells, the North Korean boat was hit by many more, and was burning as it limped back across the Northern Limit Line/NLL. At least three North Korean sailors were killed, and several more wounded.

Moving the NLL maritime border south has been a North Korean goal for decades. The reason is the lucrative crab fishing grounds off the west coast. North Korea currently makes $100 million from crabs taken north of the NLL. Only military families are allowed to take crabs, and the crab catch is a major part of the income of these loyal officers. North Korea wants more crab fishing grounds, to make more of its naval officers happy. Every few years, North Korean patrol boats crossed the NLL, got shot up by superior South Korean warships, and North Korean honor was satisfied.

The crabs are real, and so is the combat superiority of the southern naval and air forces. Although North Korea then had about 400 ships in its navy, compared to 120 in the South Korean Navy, most of the North Korean vessels are old and small. South Korea has larger ships and much better weapons and equipment.