The North Korean frigate that rolled over and was partially submerged during its botched launch ceremony last month is now floating on its own, a new satellite image shows.
It is the latest sign of progress after a mishap that embarrassed North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who attended the ceremony.
The image shows that North Korea “has successfully completed initial salvage operations,” according to the latest analysis by Beyond Parallel, a project within the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Earlier this week, a satellite image showed that second vessel finally upright, but still at the dock and covered in blue tarps.
As we noted in that story, an analysis by 38 North showed the efforts North Korea was taking to right the vessel.
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A new satellite image reveals that the North Korean frigate that capsized and partially sank during its disastrous launch ceremony last month is now hovering on its own. It represents the most recent development following an incident that embarrassed Kim Jong Un, the North Korean dictator who was present at the ceremony. North Korea’s initial estimate that it would take “ten-odd days to restore the warship’s side” is roughly consistent with this. “”.
38 North, a website dedicated to North Korean analysis, wrote on Thursday that “Kim Jong Un’s orders to restore” the unnamed Choi-Hyun class ship “before the end of June have been met with skepticism.”. According to commercial satellite imagery, Chongjin port employees have made great progress toward that objective. “”.
Away from the dock where it rolled into the water on May 21, the ship is moored in the center of O-Hang harbor in the latest photo taken by Planet Labs. Two smaller ships are located immediately off its starboard side, and there are a few more on the port side, a little farther away. It’s hard to tell how much damage the ship sustained after spending more than two weeks partially submerged based on the image quality. Our report here provides more details about the ship’s uprighting earlier this week.
The latest analysis by Beyond Parallel, a project within the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), reveals that North Korea “has successfully completed initial salvage operations” in the image.
Beyond Parallel proposed that the ship might be listing slightly to port, that there are a lot of tiny marine salvage balloons on board and beside the ship, and that there is what looks to be a big lift bag or makeshift ramp on the slide slipway. The balloons’ presence and the salvage operation’s slight listing indicate that pumping, stabilization, and refurbishment work are still ongoing. The ship may be moved to another shipyard for this work, fitting-out, and commissioning, or it may stay at the Hambuk Shipyard in Chongjin. “”.
The image did not reveal enough damage to Beyond Parallel to determine the extent of the ship’s damage.
Jennifer Jun, Associate Fellow for Imagery Analysis at CSIS, informed us that while those are excellent questions, they are not currently amenable to our resolution. For better collects in the upcoming days, we’ll keep an eye out. “”.
Further ship repairs are underway, a spokesman for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff told a news conference Thursday. He did not, however, clarify whether Kim’s request that the frigate be returned by the time of the upcoming meeting of the Party Central Committee later this month would be fulfilled. This objective is clearly dubious, if not impossible, to achieve.
“More investigation is required, including whether the warship’s keel has changed,” South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency stated.
“Earlier this week, the North Korean warship that was slanting at the Chongjin port reverted to an upright position, and it is thought that more (restoration) work is underway,” Col. At a routine press briefing, Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) spokesperson Lee Sung-jun stated, according to Yonhap. “South Korea and the U.S. S. Activities at the Chongjin port and the surrounding area are being closely observed by intelligence officials. “.”.
The ship is the second of its Choi Hyun class, after the Choi Hyon, and has an estimated displacement of 5,000 tons. In April, the ship was formally unveiled. Read our earlier in-depth analysis and follow-up report to learn more about the heavily armed frigate class.
The second vessel was finally upright, but it was still at the dock and covered in blue tarps, according to a satellite image taken earlier this week. Our story about that is available here. North Korea was making efforts to right the ship, as we mentioned in that story, according to an analysis by 38 North.
38 North hypothesized that the boat may have capsized because the launch mechanism got lodged in the bow, pinning it to the ground as the stern sank into the water. There looked to be damage near the bow section in the May 29 imagery. This stands in sharp contrast to North Korea’s initial, questionable, if not outright untrue, claim that the ship was unharmed.
As we mentioned in our earlier report, if significant repairs are needed, the vessel cannot be easily moved into a dry dock at Chongjin. But now that the ship is afloat, transporting it to a facility capable of repairing significant hull damage might be simpler.
Write to the author at howard@thewarzone.com.
