Naval Victories of DPRK Against U.S. and the Future Prospects
A ceremony of launching the newly-built destroyer was held with splendor at the Nampho Shipyard on April 25 in the presence of Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Hero Torpedo Boat
The 17-ton-class torpedo boat (No. 21) in the photo took part as command ship in a naval battle in the waters off Jumunjin during the Korean war (1950-1953), sinking the US Navy’s 17 300-ton-class heavy cruiser Baltimore and damaging a 14 000-ton-class light cruiser.
The boat which was awarded the title of DPRK Hero is on display at the open-air weapons exhibition section of the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in the capital city of Pyongyang.
DPRK’s War Trophy
A ship is anchored on the bank of the Pothong River in the DPRK’s capital city of Pyongyang. The US armed spy ship Pueblo was captured as it engaged in espionage against the DPRK.
In January 1968 the ship illegally intruded into the territorial waters of the DPRK for the purpose of espionage. On the 23rd a navy unit of the Korean People’s Army, while on a regular guard duty, located the ship and promptly launched an operation to capture it. Seven KPA seamen mounted the Pueblo and put it under their control in 14 minutes. They took captive 80-odd crew including the captain and other officers.
Soon after this, the US impudently threatened military action to bring the Korean people to their knees. It hurled huge military forces including nuclear aircraft carriers Enterprise and Ranger into the waters around the Korean peninsula, while keeping B-52 strategic bombers and many fighter-bombers on the alert at Ulsan and Kunsan of the ROK.
The DPRK countered the US military pressure with a strong response, saying that it would return “retaliation” with retaliation and all-out war with an all-out war. Its hardline stance drove the US into a tight corner, compelling it to sign a letter of apology to the DPRK on December 23, or 11 months after the incident broke out.
In the letter, the US government, acknowledging the intrusion into the territorial waters of the DPRK, wrote that it shouldered full responsibility and solemnly apologized for the grave acts of espionage committed by the ship against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and gave firm assurances that no US ships would intrude again into the territorial waters of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The letter says as follows:
“Meanwhile, the Government of the United States of America earnestly requests the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to deal leniently with the former crew members of the USS ‘Pueblo’ confiscated by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea side, taking into consideration the fact that these crew members have confessed honestly to their crimes and petitioned the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for leniency.”
An American newspaper Pueblo Chieftain, dated January 22, 2008, carried a commentary on the occasion of the 40th year after the capture of Pueblo, in which it wrote that Pueblo was the first vessel to be captured in the history of the US Navy, and that the damage done was equivalent to that by an H-bomb and that former US President Eisenhower confessed that 1968 was the grimmest year.
Pueblo serves as a “museum” symbolizing the past, present and future of the DPRK-US showdown.
A Signal Flare of Strengthening the Navy of the DPRK
The hostile forces have formed an aggressive military bloc and been conducting military exercises of different code names around the Korean peninsula, straining the regional situation.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a maritime country which is sea-bound on the east and the west.
Its enemy states are all maritime countries; and their bridgeheads of overseas aggression, armed forces assembly points and logistics bases are found on the oceans and coasts.
As the maritime sovereignty of our state can be defended only by the great naval strength, the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the DPRK, mapped out a plan to build warships with better operational capability as soon as possible and is energetically leading its implementation.
A launching ceremony of the new-generation multi-mission attack destroyer No. 1 was held in the DPRK on April 25, 2025.
The destroyer has been equipped not only with anti-air, anti-ship, anti-submarine and anti-ballistic missile capability but also with weapons systems capable of maximizing the ground-striking operation capacity such as supersonic strategic cruise missile and tactical ballistic missile.
This destroyer will thoroughly defend the maritime sovereignty and national interests in the territorial waters of the DPRK.
At the launching ceremony, Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un said: Our plan is to put the latest-type warships, capable of satisfying all the demands of national defence strategies, into commission at the earliest possible date with crucial importance given to the radical growth of the warship-building industry, and thus develop the Navy of our Republic into a superior modern service.
He also said that obtaining operational capabilities on the oceans is the most reliable means for controlling positively and safely the military threats pregnant with the use of nukes on the Korean peninsula and for containing and blocking the enemy's schemes to dispatch its additional overseas troops to the peninsula in case of emergency.
The destroyer launched that day was the warship with such capability.
