SEOUL, June 6 (UPI) -- North Korea righted a capsized 5,000-ton warship and moored it at a pier in the Chongjin Shipyard on the country's east coast, state-run media reported, two weeks after a failed launch that leader Kim Jong Un condemned as a "criminal act."
"After restoring the balance of the destroyer early in June, the [restoration] team moored it at the pier by safely conducting its end launching on Thursday afternoon," the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
"The team will start the next-stage restoration after the reexamination of a group of experts into the overall hull of the destroyer," KCNA said
The article corresponds with commercial satellite imagery analyzed by North Korea-focused website 38 North, which reported Thursday that the North had managed to launch the ship after returning it to an upright position earlier this week. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff also confirmed the ship had been righted in a press briefing Thursday.
The next phase of the repair will take place at Rajin Dockyard over the next seven to ten days, the KCNA report said.
Jo Chun Ryong, a senior official from the ruling Workers' Party, was quoted as saying that the "perfect restoration of the destroyer will be completed without fail" before a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party central committee in late June.
Kim Jong Un demanded that the warship be restored by the start of the party congress and warned of serious consequences for those found responsible for the launch mishap.
Kim was in attendance at the destroyer's botched launch on May 21, and called it a "criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism which is out of the bounds of possibility and could not be tolerated."
At least four officials have been arrested so far, including vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department Ri Hyong Son, according to state media.
South Korea's military assessed that the North had attempted to "side-launch" the vessel by sliding it into the water sideways rather than launching it from a drydock, a technique analysts believe Pyongyang had never used before.
The destroyer was the second warship introduced by North Korea in recent weeks, following the launch of its 5,000-ton Choe Hyon destroyer at the Nampo Shipyard on April 25. That vessel is armed with a wide range of weapons, including supersonic cruise missiles and strategic cruise missiles, according to North Korean reports.
Photos released by the North showed that the Choe Hyon's missile and radar systems resemble those found on Russian vessels, prompting speculation that Pyongyang received technical assistance from Moscow in its development.
North Korea has deployed troops, artillery and weapons to Russia to aid in Moscow's war against Ukraine, and is believed to be receiving much-needed financial support and advanced military technology for its own weapons programs.
On Thursday, Kim Jong Un told Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu that Pyongyang would continue to "unconditionally support" Moscow, according to KCNA.
