Blue Tarps Can’t Hide This National Embarrassment
What happens when a nuclear-armed dictatorship tries to flex with a brand-new 5,000-ton destroyer—only to watch it sink sideways in front of its Supreme Leader?
North Korea just found out.
On Wednesday, the regime attempted a grand naval launch in Chongjin with Kim Jong-un himself in attendance. The result was a catastrophe so public and humiliating that even Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)—North Korea’s state propaganda organ—couldn’t bury it.
Despite KCNA’s best efforts to spin the event, South Korean outlets confirmed the obvious: the ship partially capsized and sustained serious damage. And just to add insult to injury, North Korean officials tried (and failed) to cover the wreck with blue tarps, apparently under the delusion that the world wouldn’t notice.
When Propaganda Can’t Bail You Out
This isn’t just a mechanical failure—it’s a full-blown regime embarrassment. KCNA’s unusually candid report labeled the event “an unpardonable criminal act” and promised punishment for those involved. That’s not exactly business as usual for a state-run media machine that normally runs headlines like “Supreme Leader Tours World’s Most Luxurious Toothpick Factory.”
According to Reuters, the destroyer tipped during its launch, likely because of a severe design or procedural error. The damage includes:
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Crushed portions of the hull
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Flooded stern compartments
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Major structural scrapes
KCNA tried to claim “no holes were made,” but then admitted the warship took on seawater and would take up to two weeks to fix. They also blasted the military-industrial complex’s “irresponsibility and unscientific empiricist attitude”—a bizarre self-own from a regime that often equates pseudoscience with gospel.
A Floating Joke From a Nuclear State
So here’s the uncomfortable question:
Should the world be reassured or terrified that a regime with 50+ nuclear warheads can’t even float a ship?
The answer isn’t so clear.
North Korea may lack competent shipbuilders, but its military continues to develop long-range ballistic missiles, satellite capabilities, and nuclear weapons at an alarming pace. As the Arms Control Association noted in 2024, Pyongyang has enough fissile material for up to 90 warheads, and it has tested missiles with potential range to reach the continental U.S.
That’s what makes this debacle so unnerving. The juxtaposition of military incompetence and nuclear capability is not funny—it’s dangerous.
The Kim Regime’s Fragile Facade
This wasn’t just a botched launch. It was a public relations nightmare that shattered one of the few illusions the regime tries to project: technological competence. And when blue tarps fail to hide your sinking ship, you can bet heads will roll—literally or figuratively—in Chongjin.
North Korea thrives on image and fear. But on that shipyard, beneath the watchful eye of Kim Jong-un, the mask slipped. No missile parade, no propaganda footage, no retroactive editing can undo what the world now knows:
The emperor has no destroyer.
And even worse—for North Korea’s engineers and naval officers—the emperor watched it happen.