North Korea restarted major upgrades on a factory suspected of producing tanks and missile launchers in recent weeks after years of delays, satellite imagery shows, signaling Pyongyang’s renewed interest in diversifying launch methods and mass-producing a new tank design. 

Workers appeared to begin installing roofing over a new manufacturing building at the Kusong Tank Plant between Oct. 15 and 19, according to Planet Labs imagery, and this work continued through Oct. 25. The new facility is double the size of the one that was already on the site.

Dave Schmerler, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies who spotted the construction, told NK Pro the factory has appeared to be involved in manufacturing new tracked transporter erector launchers (TELs) in recent years. 

The tracked TELs provide an alternative to wheeled vehicles for carrying heavier missiles introduced in the last five years over rough terrain, he added. 

The latest project to build the new manufacturing hall and at least eight other halls related to production processes began in Aug. 2020, but work appeared to stall months after, with the buildings left as basic, roofless concrete frames until recently.

This timelapse of Planet Labs satellite images shows the latest project starting and stalling in 2020 before restarting in recent months. Ongoing upgrades to the “No. 112 Factory” – another factory possibly involved in weapons development – are also visible in the top left of the image | Images: Planet Labs PBH, edited by NK Pro

New roofing work on the large new manufacturing hall in recent weeks appears inside the yellow dotted box | Images: Planet Labs PBH, edited by NK Pro

High-resolution shots show some minor roofing work took place in August this year (inside yellow dotted box) on the new 25,000-square-meter hall ahead of more comprehensive efforts this month. It’s around double the size of the red-roofed hall above it in the image, which was rebuilt in 2016-17. | Images: Planet Labs PBH, edited by NK Pro

A few small patches of new roofing previously appeared on the large new hall and other smaller structures in Aug. 2022. 

White materials also covered an open meeting area and a storage yard on site to varying degrees between Sept. 24 and Oct. 24, while some areas were repaved, the imagery shows. Work on finishing most of the other smaller new structures had yet to begin as of Oct. 25.

Kim Jong Un’s apparent renewed focus on military hardware comes as state media has warned the public not to expect a respite from economic hardships anytime soon. Kim said at a weapons expo last year that military spending holds an “overriding importance” despite economic problems.

ALL-TERRAIN LAUNCHERS

The “machine plant managed by Ho Chol Yong (허철용동무가 사업하는 기계공장)” is the official name of the Kusong factory that North Korean state media reports have used in coverage of leader Kim Jong Un’s five visits between 2012 and 2016 — all of which do not directly mention military vehicle production. State media has not reported on any subsequent visits to the facility located in North Phyongan Province in the country’s northwest.

However, Kim likely visited in May 2019, when state media published photos showing him nearby the factory overseeing a test of a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) from a tracked TEL and tank drills at an outdoor vehicle proving ground.

The factory’s manager Ho Chol Yong also appeared with Kim inside the missile test observation room during a Pukguksong-2 SRBM test from a tracked TEL at the same proving ground in Feb. 2017, suggesting the Kusong Tank Factory is closely involved with that missile delivery system as well.

A 1983 declassified document from the U.S. National Photographic Interpretation Center identified the factory’s involvement in tank production, Schmerler said. Ho Chol Yong sat in a prominent spot on stage behind Kim Jong Un at a Dec. 2017 munitions industry conference, according to NK Pro analysis, further confirming his factory’s involvement in military development.

The last time North Korea revealed the use of a tracked TEL during a missile test was for a KN-24 SRBM launch in Jan. 2022 from the Pyongyang International Airport runway. 

North Korea showed off five different tracked TEL systems during its Oct. 2020 military parade, but only one in its Jan. 2021 parade, two at its Oct. 2021 weapons expo and two in its April 2022 parade. 

“PROTOTYPE” TANKS

The construction at the massive manufacturing hall may also be related to North Korea’s plans to produce a new battle tank unveiled at the Oct. 2020 military parade.

State media continued to refer to it as a “prototype tank” when models with the same numbers painted on their sides subsequently appeared at the Jan. 2021 and April 2022 parades and Oct. 2021 weapons expo, indicating it has not yet entered production. (Their paint scheme changed from tan to green for the 2022 parade.)

Their continued designation as merely a prototype could be because the new manufacturing hall remains unfinished, so it hasn’t been able to enter mass production. However, conclusive evidence tying the new tank to the Kusong factory has yet to emerge.

Writing for NK Pro on the tank’s appearance at the DPRK’s Oct. 2020 military parade, Joost Oliemans and Stijn Mitzer said it’s more modern than the country’s previous tank designs and features “advanced” technologies. They added it also features a “hard-kill active protection system (APS) patterned after that of the Russian T-14 Armata” with armor “significantly reminiscent of the U.S. M1 Abrams.” 

Kim Jong Un may eventually want to promote the new battle tank’s ascension to mass production or deployment in the field, meaning state media could someday report on drills involving this new model at the Kusong proving ground.

Kim previously oversaw the rebuilding of the main manufacturing hall between 2016 and 2017, according to state media, and before that ordered the military to build a large recreation center called the Kangsong Health Complex on site in 2012 featuring a gym and indoor pool.

Edited by Bryan Betts