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New satellite images show what could be North Korea's largest warship, possibly more than twice the size of anything in leader Kim Jong Un's naval fleet.
Images taken by independent satellite providers Maxar Technologies and Planet Labs on April 6 show the ship under construction in the water at the Nampo shipyard on North Korea's west coast, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) southwest of the capital Pyongyang.
Analysts say the photographs show ongoing construction of weapons and other internal systems on the ship, which is likely a guided-missile frigate (FFG) designed to carry missiles in vertical launch tubes for use against targets on land and at sea.
"The FFG is approximately 140 meters long, making it the largest warship produced in North Korea," said an analysis by Joseph Bermudez Jr. and Jennifer Jun at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
By comparison, the US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are about 154 meters long, and its Constellation-class frigates under construction will be 151 meters long. The warship's existence is no surprise.
The Kim regime has been engaged in a rapid modernization of its armed forces, developing a range of new weapons and testing intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach almost anywhere in the United States.
This has been done despite United Nations sanctions that have placed strict restrictions on its access to the materials and technology to develop those weapons.
But closer ties with Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine could help North Korea overcome UN sanctions, analysts say.
Kim Duk-ki, a retired South Korean admiral, said he thinks Moscow could provide technology for the frigate's missile systems.
Photos of the ship appeared in a report by Korean Central Television aired late last year at the ruling Workers' Party's year-end plenary session. The images showed leader Kim inspecting the ship's construction.
Images in the KCTV video show that the warship could have the type of armament possessed by modern navies, including vertical launch cells that could be used to launch a variety of missiles.
Analysts also noted that the ship appears to be designed to have phased array radar, which can track threats and targets more quickly and accurately than North Korea's previously demonstrated capabilities.
Despite those indications of advanced combat capabilities, analysts urged caution in making assumptions.
North Korea's old fleet
North Korea's navy has about 400 patrol fighters and 70 submarines, according to the most recent estimate by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in a 2021 report. Although this is a large number of ships, most of them are old and small.
The DIA report said North Korea's navy would be reduced primarily to coastal defense in any conflict with South Korea or the United States, both of which have vastly superior naval forces.
But North Korea's leader Kim has pushed to modernize its naval fleet. It is also developing submarine-launched missiles and submarines to carry them.
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