Why North Korea has deployed balloons to damaged warship after botched launch

North Korea seems to have installed a layer of balloons above its damaged 5,000-ton warship that has been laying on its side and partially submerged following an erroneous launch attempt last week. Experts have said the purpose of the balloons could be to prevent espionage through drones and satellites or to get the ship back upright for repair works.

The naval destroyer was to be launched as part of North Korea’s ambitious naval modernisation effort. However, on May 21, a malfunction caused the ship to slide prematurely into the water, causing damage to the hull and leaving the bow stranded on the shipway, all in the presence of dictator Kim Jong Un.

A fuming Kim called the failure a “criminal act” and ordered officials to repair it before the late-June plenary session of the ruling Workers’ Party. Meanwhile, according to reports, four people have been detained after being held responsible for the botched launch, including the shipyard’s chief engineer.

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What are experts saying?

According to some experts, deploying balloons may be a part of the efforts to repair the vassal.

“It looks like what appear to be balloons have been installed not to refloat the ship, but to prevent the ship from further flooding,” Rep. Yu Yong-weon, a South Korean National Assembly lawmaker and military analyst, was quoted as saying by CNN.

Meanwhile, a retired US Navy captain said there could be two purposes of the balloons.

Carl Schuster said the objects have been installed either to prevent “low- to mid-level drone reconnaissance,” or to reduce the stress on the part of the ship still stranded on the pier.

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“That is the area that is most likely to have been damaged, suffered the most severe damage and remains under intense stress while the forward area remains out of the water,” he said.

Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies shows over a dozen white, balloon-like objects positioned around the destroyer since May 23.

Their shape and apparent tail fins suggest they could be smaller aerostat aircraft, akin to dirigibles, which rely on lifting gas for buoyancy in air or water, defence experts told CNN.

The images don’t reveal any flotation bladders supporting the ship’s hull or body, Schuster noted—something the US would likely employ in this scenario. He suggested North Korea’s maritime tech might not be sophisticated enough for such methods.