North Korean officials and shipyard workers pledged to complete construction of a new navy destroyer warship by October 10 next year, state news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.
Video footage from North Korea's state-run television KRT accompanying the news showed shipbuilding workers standing to attention listening to speeches at the Nampho shipyard, as well as several cranes and people nearby working with safety helmets and uniforms.
In June, North Korea restored a 5,000-ton destroyer that was damaged during an earlier failed launch attempt, with leader Kim Jong Un pledging a more modern naval fleet to enhance the country's maritime power in the Pacific Ocean against what he said were provocations by the United States and its allies, according to KCNA.
Kim Jong Un pushes for more naval power
"We must develop our naval power more comprehensively and rapidly so that the enemy cannot even think of carrying out aggressive actions in the waters around us," North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un said in June.
Workers at a shipyard in the country attended a rally, where they announced that they'd build the destroyer by October 10, 2026, the anniversary date of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.
KCNA reported that the shipyard's chief told the workers that they must adhere to the deadline in order to uphold the party's "plan for building a powerful army" and "to firmly defend the inviolable maritime sovereignty and national interests."