Breaking News: North Korea Strengthens Sea Power with New Nuclear-Capable Choe Hyon-Class Guided-Missile Destroyer.

On April 25, 2025, North Korea officially launched the Choe Hyon-class guided-missile destroyer, marking a historic leap in its maritime power. The launch ceremony, held at Nampho Shipyard on the country’s west coast, was personally attended by Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, who seized the moment to denounce the United States and emphasize the ship’s role in advancing North Korea’s nuclear deterrence and expanding its naval reach. The event highlighted North Korea’s ambitious plans to develop a blue-water navy capable of operating far beyond its coastal waters, fundamentally transforming the Korean People's Navy's traditional defensive posture.
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During its launch ceremony at Nampho Shipyard, the new Choe Hyon-class guided-missile destroyer showcased North Korea’s expanding naval capabilities and nuclear-capable missile systems. (Picture source @KPA_bot X account)

Named after Choe Hyon, a revered military figure and the father of senior official Choe Ryong Hae, the Choe Hyon-class is the largest and most advanced warship ever built by North Korea. Displacing approximately 5,000 tons, the guided-missile destroyer was constructed in a notably short span of about 400 days, reflecting Pyongyang’s drive to fast-track its naval modernization despite international sanctions and technological limitations. Kim Jong Un described the vessel as a critical foundation for a new "Kim Jong Un-style fleet," asserting that more destroyers and larger warships would soon follow to support blue-water operations.

The Choe Hyon-class destroyer has been engineered for multi-domain warfare and demonstrates a significant upgrade in capabilities. Its main armament includes a 127mm naval gun mounted on the bow, designed to deliver powerful fire support against enemy ships, coastal defenses, and low-flying aircraft. This naval gun serves as the destroyer’s principal weapon for surface engagements and shore bombardment.

One of the ship’s most striking features is its substantial vertical launch system (VLS) capacity. Directly behind the main gun, the Choe Hyon-class is outfitted with 40 small and 12 large VLS hatches, while the stern area adds another 10 large and 20 small missile tubes. In total, the destroyer features around 82 VLS cells, a remarkable figure for a vessel of its size. These VLS systems allow the Choe Hyon-class to launch a variety of missiles, including supersonic strategic cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads, tactical ballistic missiles suited for precision strikes, as well as surface-to-air and anti-ship missiles, enabling the destroyer to engage multiple threat types across vast distances.

When placed into an international context, the VLS capacity of the Choe Hyon-class is striking. The U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers carry between 90 to 96 VLS cells depending on the Flight version. South Korea’s Sejong the Great-class destroyers, some of the most heavily armed Aegis-equipped warships, boast 128 VLS cells. China's Type 055 Renhai-class destroyers are fitted with 112 VLS cells. Japan’s new Maya-class Aegis destroyers carry 96 VLS cells. Even some modern frigates, like the U.S. Navy's Constellation-class under construction, will feature 32 VLS cells. Thus, North Korea’s Choe Hyon-class destroyer, with 82 missile tubes, stands impressively close to these top-tier vessels, despite being from a country traditionally seen as technologically isolated. In sheer number of missiles it can potentially fire, the Choe Hyon-class now ranks among the more heavily armed surface combatants globally, at least by VLS count, ahead of many frigates and lighter destroyers.

Detail of the new North Korean Choe Hyon-class guided-missile destroyer’s rear armament, including VLS arrays and the Pantsir-M naval air defense module for layered missile protection. ((Picture source: @KPA_bot X account)

Air defense is another critical area where the Choe Hyon-class showcases major advancements. The ship is fitted with the Pantsir-M naval air defense system, a highly capable close-in weapon system (CIWS) combining missiles and autocannons. The Pantsir-M is armed with the naval versions of the 57E6 missiles and Hermes-K missiles, ensuring layered defense against aerial threats, including aircraft, helicopters, drones, and incoming missiles. In addition to its missile armament, Pantsir-M employs two six-barreled 30×165mm GSh-6-30K/AO-18KD rotary cannons, each capable of a staggering rate of fire and effective against targets up to 5 kilometers away.

The Pantsir-M system is fully automated and can track and engage up to four targets simultaneously within a range of 20 kilometers. Its advanced phased array radar and electro-optical/infrared targeting systems provide precise detection and tracking, even in heavy electronic warfare environments. The system is particularly effective against sea-skimming cruise missiles, with interception capabilities for threats flying as low as two meters above the ocean surface. If initial missile defenses fail, the Pantsir-M seamlessly transitions to automatic cannon fire, ensuring multiple layers of protection.

Strategically, the launch of the Choe Hyon-class destroyer represents more than just a technological milestone; it is a declaration of intent. North Korea is signaling that it is no longer content to remain a coastal navy. The construction of this new class of warships, combined with promises to build larger vessels, points toward a vision of power projection and deterrence that extends into the broader Pacific theater. Kim Jong Un's comments about creating a blue-water operational fleet underscore an ambition to confront U.S. and allied forces far beyond the Korean Peninsula, challenging regional maritime security dynamics.

The Choe Hyon-class destroyer embodies North Korea’s pivot towards a sophisticated, multi-domain navy capable of conventional and nuclear operations at sea. With its combination of offensive missile firepower, robust air defense, and implied anti-submarine capabilities, the vessel represents a formidable new asset in North Korea’s military arsenal and a significant challenge for regional powers to monitor. As additional vessels of this class or even larger ones are constructed in the coming years, the balance of naval power in East Asia could face a new and unpredictable factor.