Mysterious white balloons seen near North Korea's 5,000 ton sunken warship, what are they?

North Korea might be using balloon-like structures around its most advanced and largest naval vessel, after last week’s failed launch left 5,000-ton warship partially submerged.

Satellite images from Maxar Technologies reveal over a dozen white, balloon-like objects have been deployed around the wreckage since 23 May.

Experts are divided over the purpose of the balloons. Some believe they’re being used to prevent further flooding or protect the vessel from surveillance.


“It looks like what appear to be balloons have been installed not to refloat the ship, but to prevent the ship from further flooding,” said South Korean lawmaker and military analyst Representative Yu Yong-weon.

Retired US Navy Captain Carl Schuster suggested the balloons could serve dual purposes, either shielding the vessel from drone reconnaissance or relieving pressure on the hull where the destroyer is lodged awkwardly on the slipway.

“That is the area that is most likely to have been damaged, suffered the most severe damage and remains under intense stress while the forward area remains out of the water,” he said.

Naval expert Nick Childs from the International Institute for Strategic Studies warned that using balloons to lift the ship could risk making the situation worse.

“It is highly likely that the ship is under quite a lot of stress anyway,” Childs said, adding that normal approach would be to create buoyancy below and then lift gradually.

Despite North Korean media downplaying the extent of the damage, analysts remain sceptical. KCNA previously claimed the hull remained intact and estimated repairs would take just 10 days. But Schuster noted that the effort could stretch to six months depending on internal damage, seawater ingress, and corrosion.

The ship’s position—partly on land and partly submerged, further complicates the salvage operation.

“Having it half in and half out of the water is basically the worst possible situation,” said Decker Eveleth, a defence researcher with CNA. “If you try to pull the sunken half out, you’re risking twisting and breaking the keel. And if you do that, the whole ship is junk.”

Experts say North Korea may ultimately need to dismantle parts of the destroyer to remove it safely.

“Very often the only way you clear the dock … is to dismantle at least part of the ship to make the operation easier, right what you have left and tow it away and make a decision on whether you rebuild it or scrap it.”

The 5,000-ton destroyer was meant to be a symbol of North Korea's ambitious naval modernisation. However, a malfunction during its launch at a shipyard in the northeastern city of Chongjin caused the stern to slide prematurely into the water, damaging the hull and leaving the bow stranded on land.

In a rare admission of failure, state media KCNA reported the mishap, quoting leader Kim Jong Un who called it a “criminal act” and demanded urgent repairs before a late-June party meeting, describing the mission as a matter of national honour, as per CNN.

Since the incident, four individuals including the shipyard’s chief engineer have reportedly been detained.