Ever since Kim Jong Un promised to work towards denuclearization in 2018, state media has either played down his visits to sites associated with the country’s nuclear weapons program — or hid them altogether.

But now, NK News has found that Kim secretly visited a key nuclear weapons-related factory on U.S. Independence Day, less than a month after the famous June 2018 Singapore Summit.

NK News and NK Pro also previously reported two other secret visits related to the country’s nuclear weapons program, all of which took place after both Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump dined over beef short ribs and shrimp cocktails at the Shangri-La Hotel.

KIM’S TIMELY TOUR

On July 4, 2018, just weeks after meeting Trump in Singapore, Kim Jong Un commemorated the country’s first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) designed to reach the entire U.S. mainland.

NK Pro revealed last year that he did this in part by stopping by a memorial for the Nov. 2017 inaugural test of this missile, called the Hwasong-15.

Now, freshly uncovered evidence shows that Kim also visited the March 16 Factory on that day, where this ICBM’s launch vehicles are produced.

This means that Kim essentially retraced his steps from the night of the test: The missile was moved from the March 16 Factory in Phyongsong to the memorial site — an empty field at the time — early in the morning on Nov. 29, 2017. It was carried there on a new nine-axle launch vehicle called a transporter erector launcher (TEL).

Details on the nature of the newly-revealed visit remain unclear, but it’s feasible that Kim had instructed the March 16 Factory workers on TEL production plans for the uncertain road of denuclearization talks ahead.

The primary evidence of Kim’s secret visit is a propaganda banner displayed outdoors at the March 16 Factory, which stated that Kim Jong Un inspected and/or made a speech there on July 4, 2018.

The date, coinciding with Independence Day, was the one-year anniversary of the Hwasong-14 ICBM test, which at the time was explicitly meant to send a message to the United States. 

The propaganda banner appeared in video footage of a separate, public visit Kim made to the factory. Though state media first reported on this visit on June 2, 2019, it wasn’t until Jan. 2020 that the footage appeared on state TV.

Part of the banner’s slogan is obscured in the footage, but it still clearly and visibly says, “Comrade [Kim] Jong Un’s … on July 4 of the year Juche 107 ([김]정은동지의 주체107년7월4일).” 

Juche 107 is a North Korean formula for the year 2018.

NK News compared the visible parts of the text to full sentences that are commonly written in the same order at other factories and construction sites. It appears that the word “on-the-spot instructions (현지말씀)” is likely included. 

This would mean that Kim visited on July 4, 2018, before or after going to the Hwasong-15 memorial located 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) up the road that day.

These banners generally refer to the place where they’re displayed, and they usually say the following: “Let’s thoroughly carry out the on-the-spot instructions Supreme Leader Comrade Kim Jong Un made on (month and day) of the year Juche (number)!” 

The Gregorian year is sometimes used in place of the Juche year, and for times when Kim may have only sent instructions remotely, the words “on-the-spot” are sometimes omitted or the slogan is changed to say Kim “ratified tasks” on a specific date. 

VIEW FROM ABOVE

There’s still a lot of mystery around Kim Jong Un’s secret factory visit, but satellite imagery gives some clues into minor construction that took place in the area immediately after Kim stopped by in July 2018.

This included a vegetable greenhouse farm built soon after the visit, between Aug. 2018 and Oct. 2018, according to Planet Labs daily medium-resolution imagery. New roofing on a warehouse was also installed almost a year later, just ahead of his next visit. 

While there was eventually significant construction to the March 16 Factory, it’s probably not related to this particular visit. The construction, linked to TEL production, took place after Kim made the June 2019 public visit to the factory.

Timelapse showing changes at the March 16 Factory in the year after Kim’s July 4, 2018 visit | Images: Planet Labs

WHY BE SECRETIVE?

North Korea started tip-toeing around nuclear issues in early 2018 — right around the time that Kim Jong Un sent his sister, Kim Yo Jong, to the Winter Olympics to kick-start talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. 

Kim Yo Jong arrived in Seoul only a day after a military parade where four Hwasong-15 ICBMs rolled through Pyongyang on their giant new TELs.

North Korea then committed to denuclearizing by signing agreements with Moon on April 27, then with Trump on June 12.

However, Kim did not explicitly promise to immediately halt work on nuclear or ICBM development during these agreements.

Instead, state media began to mostly hide ongoing developments and more generally cut back on any direct, anti-U.S. rhetoric — likely to avoid offending Trump during negotiations.

It’s unclear why Kim’s July 2018 visit to the March 16 Factory was kept secret while his June 2019 visit was not. But the decision to conceal or reveal could be directly related to the state of talks with Trump — the July 4, 2018 visit came off the high of the Singapore summit, while the 2019 visit came after the failed meeting in Hanoi.

But state media also tried to deceive during its public report of the June 2019 inspection. It omitted all references to the factory’s “defense capability” and called it by a completely different name: the Phyongnam General Machine Plant. Even so, analysts were quick to notice it was actually the March 16 Factory.

This is how Kim Jong Un and state media would continue to approach nuclear and ICBM program development. 

For four other inspections reported on June 1, 2019, state media mostly focused on civilian aspects of factories known to produce weapons components. 

In July 2019, Kim inspected a new military submarine under development, but the state media report was markedly subdued compared to similar reports before 2018. There was also no mention of the submarine’s ability to carry nuclear missiles. 

A test of the new Pukguksong-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) in Oct. 2019 was also accompanied by a slim state media report that made no mention of its nuclear capabilities.

But there was an even more significant deceit: State media only credited the Academy of Defense Science for the Pukguksong-3 missile launch, while NK News exclusively revealed that North Korea doctored images to hide Kim Jong Un’s likely attendance.

For now, North Korea is sending mixed signals on whether it’s trying to openly celebrate their nuclear weapons capabilities or mute them in hopes of further diplomacy.

The upcoming three-year anniversary of the Nov. 29 Hwasong-15 test will likely bring celebrations in state media. But if North Korea shows significant rallies or meetings instead of a brief mention, it could be a sign that Kim Jong Un is no longer shy about his nuclear and ICBM programs.

The upcoming Oct. 10 military parade and the Eighth Party Congress in Jan. 2021 are also potential points of departure: Both are opportunities for Kim Jong Un to lift the veil on the weapons developments he made during the past three years.

Edited by Kelly Kasulis