North Korea’s Nampho Shipyard missed a major deadline to launch a 5,000-ton naval destroyer earlier this month, according to NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery, as it ramps up construction on at least one larger warship.

Planet Labs and Airbus imagery shows warship hull sections at two different potential outdoor assembly areas at the west coast shipyard, with work starting in July and the second area becoming active in September. Construction of another new warship also started recently at a shipyard on the east coast.

Analysis of imagery at shipyards on both coasts suggests North Korea may have reexamined its destroyer program, leading to delays, but that it is now pushing ahead with building larger 10,000-ton cruisers.

DESTROYER DEADLINE

The Nampho Shipyard vowed in a July 2025 state media report that it would finish its second Choe Hyon-class destroyer by Oct. 10 this year, while state television showed workers starting to put together hull sections.

Kim Jong Un reiterated the Oct. 10 deadline in March, when state media reported that he “inspected the third Choe Hyon-class destroyer under construction at the shipyard,” without releasing any photos at the time. 

But the deadline — a holiday marking the 81st founding anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party — passed without any expected signs of a ship launch at the shipyard or nearby cargo port.

It also remains unclear if work actually continued on the ship, since scattered hull pieces disappeared from view within five weeks of the July 2025 report. This implied construction proceeded inside the shelter, but unlike with the first ship, it has not been possible to track via satellite imagery. 

The Nampho Shipyard started building the country’s first destroyer around Feb. 2024, before enclosing the construction site inside a shelter that October. The ship emerged from the shelter in April 2025 for a launch ceremony at a civilian cargo port, where it returned for its deployment ceremony in June 2026. 

The first destroyer was initially built using adjacent areas for staging materials and assembly. Reddish hull materials disappeared from the staging area in Oct. 2024, around the same time roofing was installed on the shelter. This suggested it took around five months for the largest pieces to be assembled and that afterward, smaller components were brought into the building on the ground or dropped in from a large gantry crane by occasionally removing roof sections.

It’s unclear if a second ship could have been assembled inside the shelter starting in July 2025 without the use of a parallel staging area and an open roof. Meanwhile, the shipyard has again adopted an outdoor construction approach for the newest ship. 

Kim Jong Un said at this year’s June deployment ceremony that the country should build two large warships per year but that they should be larger than destroyers. He had included destroyers in his plan for two warships per year when he previously mentioned it in March.

LATEST CONSTRUCTION

A high-resolution Airbus image of the Nampho Shipyard taken on Oct. 11 shows reddish hull sections at two outdoor assembly areas at opposite ends of the complex.

NK Pro reported last month that reddish warship hull sections started to appear at the east end of the shipyard in August, while sections have now also appeared in recent weeks next to the enclosed shelter. 

This could mean two ships are now being built at the complex, but imagery in the coming weeks should show whether actual assembly is taking place in one or both spots. 

Similar reddish hull sections for a large new warship also started appearing in August at the Chongjin Shipyard on the east coast, and Planet Labs imagery shows more sections being prepared for assembly this month. 

Both of North Korea’s new 5,000-ton Choe Hyon destroyers measure about 144 meters long and 16 meters wide, but the hull sections now appearing on both coasts appear to be 19 to 21 meters wide, likely pointing to cruiser construction.

State media has yet to mention a deadline for the cruisers, and Kim has not publicly discussed warship construction plans since June.

The No. 51 Choe Hyon destroyer built in Nampho remained this week in an undeployed state at the cargo port where its deployment ceremony took place, according to Planet Labs imagery. 

The No. 52 Kang Kon destroyer, deployed in Wonsan last month, was still docked at the Mayang Island naval base this week. NK Pro analysis suggests it is also not carrying out regular operations.

Kim Jong Un admitted in June that the country lacks a naval base capable of hosting large new warships but that construction would begin on such bases. NK Pro has identified one new base on the east coast seeing major new construction activity, as well as two more potentially related sites on each coast.

Edited by Bryan Betts