North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged on Monday to transform his country's navy into a nuclear-armed force, according to what official media reported, coinciding with the launch of new military exercises by US allies.
The exercises, which are taking place this week with the participation of Japan, South Korea and the United States, were launched in 2023 with the aim of deterring the missile and nuclear threats posed by Pyongyang.
Kim's statements came during a ceremony in the coastal city of Wonsan on the occasion of the return of the warship "Kang Geun" to service, after it had partially capsized when it was lowered into the water in May 2025, according to what was reported by the official "Korean Central News Agency."
The agency quoted Kim as saying: “We must ensure the diversified and effective operation of nuclear combat systems in preparation for an actual war, by developing our navy into a nuclear-armed force.”
He added: “As soon as the order is issued at any time, the new generation destroyer must strike a deadly retaliatory strike at the enemies, as it is part of the state’s nuclear counter-response system.”
Pictures showed the participation of his daughter, Jo Aye, who is said to have been chosen to be his successor, on this occasion and her presence with him.
Last July, Kim supervised the testing of the “Kang Kun,” one of two five-thousand-ton warships launched last year.
Lim Yeol-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, said Kim's reference to a "nuclear-armed navy" suggests that these ships may serve as launching pads for tactical cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Kim revealed that North Korea is implementing an “important plan” to strengthen its naval power, and its results will be revealed to the world “within eight months.”
The maneuvers by US allies, called “Freedom Edge,” are scheduled to continue until Friday in international waters located east and south of the South Korean island of Jeju.
The maneuvers went ahead despite US President Donald Trump reducing another set of military exercises with South Korea, in an effort to reopen diplomatic channels with Pyongyang regarding its nuclear program.
The family of Chandika Kumari Shrestha began mourning ceremonies after they thought that devastating floods had swept Nepal, claiming the life of the elderly woman. However, ten days later, rescue teams found her in her destroyed home in the afflicted village of Pitrawati, where she clung to a narrow breathing space amid the water and mud.
Police officer Mahendra Darnall said: “The floods swept away the four-storey house and left it in quicksand. While we were walking around it, we heard a voice saying, “Save me.”
He added that his team found Shrestha inside a narrow place during a 45-minute rescue operation yesterday, Saturday, before she was transferred to an army hospital.
He indicated that he was in contact with her family, which had already begun the mourning period, which lasts 11 days.
Shrestha was among hundreds of missing people in Petrawati, one of the areas most affected by floods in Nepal, which was covered in solid white deposits that almost resembled concrete. Rescue teams are still recovering dozens of bodies from the area.
The town's main market and most of the residential buildings, some of which were four stories high, were almost completely buried under the rubble left by the sweeping floods that swept the valley, in a disaster that claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people across Nepal, while thousands are still missing.
Rescue workers were seen wearing protective helmets and digging with shovels, while some of them were crawling through the gaps between the collapsed buildings and repeatedly sounding whistles to check whether there were people still alive under the rubble.
Darnall said that five days ago, 24 bodies were found in a state of decomposition inside a building that housed a small shop in the market area of Petrawati.
Searching for signs of the existence of living things
Eleven days after a glacier collapsed causing devastating floods, about five thousand people are still missing.
Hundreds of bodies were washed away from the affected area of Rasoa. In Chitwan, hundreds of miles away, several mass burials took place of unidentified bodies in advanced states of decomposition.
Although hopes are gradually fading, the Nepalese authorities continue their efforts to search for people stuck inside the tunnels and under the thick layers of mud that have hardened on top of the buildings.
Since Friday, rescue teams have been able to extract three people from the tunnels, including a Chinese citizen, near the Trishuli River, where more than 900 people are believed to be still trapped. Others, like Shrestha, survived in exceptional circumstances, including an eight-year-old boy who was reunited with his mother.
School principal Rajendra Dawadi was with about 900 students in the building near the Trishuli River in Nepal when one of his colleagues came warning of a flood. Douadi said in a press interview: “The accountant came to the school and said: The flood is coming... The flood is coming.” The principal immediately ordered the school to be evacuated, and the teachers evacuated hundreds of students to higher places, explaining that he found himself facing two possibilities: “If the information is wrong, we will lose a day of school, but if it is correct, we will lose our lives.”
Minutes later, Dawoodi saw the Trishuli Bazar District Secondary School, which he had supervised for years, collapse under the weight of torrential torrential rains on the morning of August 26. Panic broke out among the students, and a girl fainted, but the speed of their evacuation allowed 900 people to be saved. Now, more than 10 days after the disaster, Dawadi stands on the damaged riverbank in the Nuwakot area, and says that he is “the principal of a school without a school,” according to what Agence France-Presse quoted him in a report on Sunday.
A massive wave of water, ice and debris, similar to a tsunami, resulting from a massive avalanche and rock collapse on the border between Nepal and China, killed at least 1,362 people, while more than 5,500 are still missing in the two countries. The Minister of Energy of Nepal confirmed, on Sunday, that relief teams are continuing their efforts without stopping in search of survivors, 11 days after the flood disaster. In recent days, rescue personnel recovered three people alive - two Nepalese workers and a Chinese citizen - from the tunnels of the Trishuli 3 energy dam project, and a sixty-year-old woman from a house buried in mud. Douadi pointed out that 5 students died in the floods that swept around the school, in addition to a teacher and a security personnel. He explained that the employee who left the school after him “may have wanted to close the gate.” Dawadi said that the authorities in Trishuli Bazar had not submitted an evacuation plan.
“There is nothing left”
Some residents tried to cross the bridge, but were swept away by the water, while others took refuge in higher areas. Douadi recalls: “When I looked behind me, the school was as tall as the most magnificent buildings, and in 5 minutes, everything collapsed.” He added: “It is also the school I used to go to.” “There is nothing left of it.”
Santoshi Dotil, 17, was in accounting class when the evacuation order was issued. At first, she did not understand the danger, and said: “We never imagined that the flood would reach this extent.” She first went down to the river with her friend to cross it and reach her family's home. Then the water level rose. “The flood washed away the bridge,” she said. I started crying because I thought I would never return home, and that we had no help.” Her friend pulled her up the hill as flood waters swept the area below. Her tears flowed as she recalled the suffering she had lived through for long hours without knowing the fate of her parents. Four days later, a helicopter returned Santoshi to her family. She said: “I found my mother as soon as I got out of the helicopter. She hugged me and started crying. "I can't think anymore." Her mother, Durga Dotil, feared the worst. “When I saw the river overflowing, I lost all hope of my daughter’s survival,” she said.
“Worse than the 2015 earthquake”
According to statistics from the Save the Children organization, at least 69 schools were destroyed or damaged. Which led to about 19,000 students being deprived of education. Dawadi stressed that the disaster was “much worse” than the earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015. He added: “The school was completely destroyed (after the earthquake), but we rebuilt it.” He continued: “This time; We lost the building and the land it was on. We need school again. But first we need a safe place to build it.”
