North Korea formally commissioned its largest warship in history on 23 June, in a ceremony at Nampho Shipyard where Kim Jong Un declared that his navy had 'put an end to over 70 years of its stagnation.' The 5,000-tonne destroyer, named the Choe Hyon, was presented to the world as a triumph of domestic engineering. South Korean officials and defence analysts who have examined its weapons systems say the picture is more complicated.
The military relationship between Pyongyang and Moscow has moved well past the transactional. South Korean and Western officials say North Korea has sent troops and ammunition to support Russia's war in Ukraine. In return, South Korean officials and defence analysts say, it has been receiving something far more durable: technology that is now being built into warships designed to operate in the Indo-Pacific for decades to come.
