PYONGYANG - The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea visited the country's new destroyer Choe Hyon and ordered that it be handed over to the navy in mid-June, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.

During the visit on Thursday, Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, boarded the destroyer and inspected its combined control center, weapons system control room, and other operational areas to review its readiness, the KCNA report said.

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He expressed appreciation for the "smooth progress" in tests for the operational commissioning of the warship and reiterated the mid-June handover plan.

The KCNA report also said Kim emphasized important tasks related to establishing a new naval base.

Destroyer Choe Hyon is the lead ship of the DPRK's 5,000-ton new-generation multimission Choe Hyon-class attack destroyers.