Pyongyang, May 8 (KCNA): Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, on May 7 visited the Destroyer Choe Hyon and observed the test to make a general assessment of its maneuverability before its commissioning.

Accompanying him were Jo Chun Ryong, secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK, Kim Jong Sik, first vice department director of the Central Committee of the WPK, Pak Kwang Sop, commander of the Navy, Pak Jong Chon, advisor to the Ministry of National Defence, Kim Kang Il, vice-minister of National Defence and director of the General Armaments Bureau, Kim Yong Hwan, president of the Academy of Defence Sciences, Yu Chang Son, director of the Artillery Bureau of the General Staff, Kim Myong Son, director of the Armaments Examination Bureau, and leading officials in the national defence and warship-building sectors.

Kim Jong Un boarded the Destroyer Choe Hyon to learn about a navigation plan for the test.

He highly appreciated the successes made by the crew members of the destroyer in their training to fully equip with the professional qualifications to operate the new-type destroyer, a combination of modern military and technical capabilities.

He went round the combined control center, weapon system control room and other combat duty spaces and elements of the destroyer to learn about its operational preparations.

A navigation test to assess various maneuvering elements of the destroyer was conducted with Kim Jong Un in presence in the West Sea of Korea 120 n·miles away from the shore.

The crew members of the destroyer were in full excitement and high morale as they had the honor of making a voyage in the presence of Kim Jong Un again.

Kim Jong Un expressed satisfaction over the fact that the combat maneuverability of the warship agreed with the operational requirements and the advantages of the warship control system of our own style were proved.

Appreciating that all the tests for the operational commissioning of the destroyer were progressing smoothly, he ordered to hand over it to the navy in oncoming mid-June as planned.

He laid down the position, disposition and operational duty of new-type destroyers under construction and clarified a series of tasks to be carried out by the Navy for them.

He specially stressed the important tasks related to the establishment of a new naval base.

At a consultative meeting with officials in the warship-building sector on the day, Kim Jong Un received a report on the results of examination over the design changes and the newly-planned weapon system of the warships Nos. 3 and 4 under construction and made an important conclusion. He particularly stressed the meaning that our new decision on the revised and changed warship building plan is of a crucial strategic nature and such decision will fundamentally update the readiness of our army's strategic action while bringing about a great change in the building of war deterrent.

He said that we have reliable and powerful defence research group and the shipbuilding industry, expressing great expectation and belief that new decision tasks will be carried out without fail by their irresistible might of self-reliance.

Reaffirming the steadfast will of our Party to build a powerful navy at any cost, he mentioned the long-term plan for navy building and some planned work.

On the same day, he sat together with all the seamen of the destroyer and encouraged their unusual pride and self-confidence in carrying on the honorable duty, stressing the need to continuously put spurs to the training with a sense of important duty and a high sense of responsibility in order to remarkably increase the combat capability.

He had a significant photo taken with the seamen of the destroyer on the deck of the warship.

The seamen, who were honored to see Kim Jong Un and received great glory and trust from him again, made a firm determination to reliably defend our country's maritime sovereignty and remain faithful to their original and sacred mission of taking charge a part of war deterrent by actively conducting intense training to possess the tremendous capability for an actual war as befitting the brave seamen of our Party.