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North Korea still possesses 90 year-old Soviet T-8 Chekan minesweeper beside new Kang Kon destroyer
Imagery from the commissioning of North Korea's new Kang Kon destroyer also showed the T-8 Chekan, a Soviet-built minesweeper launched about 90 years ago and transferred to Pyongyang after the Korean War. The roughly 62-metre, 490-to-535-tonne vessel represents a 1930s-era design still visible in a fleet now adding 5,000-tonne missile destroyers intended for conventional and potentially nuclear missions. Its continued presence illustrates the uneven modernization of North Korea's navy, which combines very old coastal ships with a small number of new high-end combatants. The report does not establish the T-8's current readiness, crew status or assigned operational task.