North korea using balloons to stop damaged warship from sinking deeper: satellite images

North Korea has deployed dozens of huge white balloons alongside its wrecked 5,000-ton-class warship to stop it from sinking further after a botched launch last week, new satellite images

show. The images captured by Maxar Technologies show the balloons surrounding the partially submerged vessel tipped on its side. It’s also draped in blue covers to hide what has turned out

to be an embarrassing failure for the hermit kingdom’s leader, Kim Jong Un. While the purpose of the apparent balloons is unclear, experts theorize that they are being used to swiftly repair

the destroyer, according to CNN. Based on the object’s shape and what look like tail fins, the white blobs look to be aerostat aircraft, which like blimps, get buoyancy from a lifting gas

that allows them to float in air or in water. “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, told the outlet. EXPLORE MORE Other experts explained that lifting the enormous warship out of the water could

cause additional damage— the forward part of the vessel is still stuck on the pier as the rest of its body pulls it downward. Using the balloons could keep the vessel in limbo as they make

repairs. But even the balloons might not be enough to save the warship — normal procedure would call for raising the ship from below. “It is highly likely that the ship is under quite a lot

of stress anyway,” said Nick Childs, senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. It is not clear how much damage the ship

suffered when a transport cradle on the ship’s stern detached early during a launch ceremony on May 23. Kim, who watched the disaster unfold, called the botched launch a “criminal act” and

ordered officials to rapidly repair the ship before the end of June. Four people have been arrested, including the shipyard’s chief engineer. The vessel is Pyongyang’s second known

destroyer. The failed launch proved an embarrassment to Kim, who is eager to build greater naval forces to deal with what he calls US-led military threats.