Among the most distinctive and readily identifiable weapons in North Korea’s inventory is the 170mm self-propelled gun, known informally outside North Korea as the “Koksan gun” and assigned the designations of M-1978 and M-1989 – depending on the variant – by the United States military. The 170mm gun is a unique weapon designed and produced solely by the Democratic People’s Republic of (North) Korea beginning in the 1970s. It was one of the world’s longest-ranging artillery pieces and was intended to allow the Korean People’s Army to fire deep into South Korean territory across the Demilitarized Zone. Despite the 170mm