North Korea has started demolishing an air force base to build a large-scale greenhouse farm intended to address “diet problems” in the surrounding region, according to NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery.

The work began soon after DPRK leader Kim Jong Un reportedly visited the Ryonpho airfield on an unspecified date in late January, ordering that construction of the 250-acre (100-hectare) farm be completed by Oct. 10 this year. He added that the farm, located on the east coast near Hamhung, should begin operating at the beginning of next year. 

It’s part of the ruling party’s long-term plan to build giant greenhouse farms around the country, as North Korea has experienced ongoing shortages that Kim Jong Un characterized as a “food crisis” last summer.

The Ryonpho base has been active for decades, hosting dozens of working Soviet-era Antonov An-2 biplanes and serving as a site for the occasional missile test.

Planet Labs satellite imagery shows that over 100 small homes surrounding the runway were razed between Jan. 29 and Feb. 2, while a similar number were still standing and apparently awaiting demolition as of the latest imagery taken on Feb. 9. The runway and other military infrastructure remained intact as well.

The antique biplanes appeared to be taken out to the runway for exercises in early January and remained there through Feb. 4, before apparently being removed from the area. It’s not yet clear where they will be stationed going forward, but biplanes have commonly operated out of nearby Sondok airfield to the south, the Kuktong and Sungam airfields further up the coast and the Thaechon and Kwaksan airfields in the northwest. 

Ryonpho will become North Korea’s fourth airbase to be dismantled in as many years.

Kim ordered construction of another giant greenhouse farm in place of a biplane airfield up the coast near Chongjin in 2018, and last year a major civilian-military airport in the northeast near the Chinese border was turned into a rail freight disinfection complex.

The Kangdong airfield in northeast Pyongyang, which also hosted An-2 biplanes, was dismantled in 2019. 

Those are in addition to the demolition of three of Kim Jong Un’s private airports since 2019, two of which were turned into large horse tracks. 

As far as new construction and upgrades, minor new construction occurred in recent years at the Pyongyang International Airport, a large new parking apron was built at the Wonsan Kalma Airport in 2020 and the Sunchon military airbase has been under renovation since last year.

Edited by Arius Derr