North Korea finally lifted its partially capsized warship into an upright position in recent days, satellite imagery shows, over a week after state media projected the task’s completion following the vessel’s launch failure at a May 21 ceremony.

NK Pro analysis of an Airbus image taken on Monday and first posted by 38 North shows that the destroyer has shifted its position at the Chongjin Shipyard by around 15 meters to the east, suggesting it has been lifted into an upright position with its bow still on the slipway.

38 North assessed that a partially visible white circle seen through the hazy satellite image at the stern of the ship is its deck-based helicopter pad, citing this as evidence of its recovery.

The 5,000-ton Choe Hyon-class destroyer still appeared Monday with only its bow up on the slipway and the remainder of the hull positioned diagonally in the water.

NK Pro previously reported that it remained capsized on its side as of midday Saturday, meaning it was finally lifted between then and Monday.

While currently available imagery does not offer a clear view of how the ship is being supported, it was likely lifted high off the ground or has added protection around the sonar fairing mounted under the front of the bow, according to analysis by Joseph Bermudez of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Bermudez said North Korean experts would begin to assess the damage after it is brought upright and that restoration efforts will likely include “replacing electrical wires and equipment [and] removing corrosion caused by saltwater,” in addition to work to repair hull damage mentioned in state media.

Citing unnamed state-affiliated “experts,” DPRK media claimed two days after the incident that it would only “take two or three days to restore the balance of the warship by pumping up seawater from the flooded chamber and making the bow leave the slipway” — projecting a recovery deadline of around May 26. The job appears to have taken around six or seven additional days.

State media also said it would take “10-odd days to restore the warship’s side,” saying “there were no holes” and that the hull’s starboard side was merely “scratched,” with water flowing into the ship through a rescue channel. 

Even if the reported 10-day job began on Monday, this still leaves plenty of time to at least get ready for propaganda coverage before DPRK leader Kim Jong Un’s deadline to fully restore the ship at the end of this month. 

Kim said immediately after the launch failure at a ceremony likely attended by hundreds of guests that the full restoration must be “completed unconditionally” by the time a party plenum is held in “late June.”

State media has yet to publish any photos of the ship at the Chongjin Shipyard after the incident, and no text updates on a “criminal” investigation into the incident and related arrests have been released since May 26.

Edited by Bryan Betts