Kim Jong Un watches as North Korea's newest warship falls off dry dock

A new North Korean warship was damaged in a “serious accident” during a launch ceremony attended by leader Kim Jong Un, state media reported Thursday.

A new North Korean warship was damaged in a “serious accident” during a launch ceremony attended by leader Kim Jong Un, state media reported Thursday in a rare admission of failure by the secretive nuclear-armed state.

The 5,000-ton destroyer slid off a flatcar because of “inexperienced command and operational carelessness in the course of the launch,” according to the Korean Central News Agency, crushing parts of the bottom of the ship.

Lee Sung-joon, spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities had been monitoring the failed launch and that the ship was “lying on its side in the sea.”

South Korea also said Thursday that North Korea had fired multiple unidentified cruise missiles and that U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities were analyzing the details.

The ship accident Wednesday at the northeastern port of Chongjin is a blow to Kim, who has stressed the importance of such destroyers for advancing North Korea’s military capabilities.