With Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart and Josh Smith
WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea is adding a key weapon-making metal that assembles a type of short-range missile used by Russia in Ukraine, researchers at a US-based think tank have concluded, based on satellite images.
The facility, known as the February 11 Plant, is part of the Ryongsong Machine Complex in Hamhung, North Korea’s second largest city, on the country’s east coast.
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Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), located at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, said the plant is the only one known to produce the Hwasong-11 class of nuclear-fuel ballistic missiles. .
Ukrainian officials say the weapons – known as the KN-23 in the West – were used by Russian forces in an attack on Ukraine.
The expansion of the complex is never mentioned.
Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied that North Korea has delivered weapons for Russia to use in Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022. Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense agreement at a summit in June and pledged to strengthen their military ties.
North Korea’s mission at the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
Satellite images, taken in early October by commercial satellite company Planet Labs, show what appears to be another assembly building under construction as well as a new housing complex, likely intended for workers, according to an analysis by CNS researchers.
It also appears that Pyongyang is improving the entrances to some underground facilities in the complex.
A disused bridge crane that was in front of the entrance, blocking easy access, was removed, suggesting they may have been strengthening part of the site, Lair said.
“We see it as a suggestion that they are increasing significantly, or are trying to increase significantly, the output of this factory,” Lair said.
The new assembly building is about 60 to 70 percent the size of the old building used to assemble missiles.
In 2023, the media released footage, which Reuters reviewed, showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walking through new facilities at the Hamhung site, where workers were assembling tail and nose kits for what appeared to be the KN-23, according to the report. to the researchers.
In the past, videos released publicly from North Korean state media show that the complex has produced everything from tank wheels to cassettes for rocket vehicles, Lair said.
THE GUNS ARE GROWN UP
The KN-23 was first tested in May 2019, and is designed to avoid missile defenses by flying in a low, “depressed” trajectory, experts told Reuters, making it important to Russia as it seeks ways to penetrate Ukraine’s air defenses.
Russia has fired thousands of missiles since the attack. North Korea’s reliance on other supplies could ease the strain on its manufacturing facilities, Lair said.
North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported that construction is continuing at the Ryongsong Machine Complex.
This month, KCNA said the center was “moving forward with projects to achieve the development goal set for this year.” The work includes rebuilding production facilities as well as assembling and installing equipment at machine shops and a metal casting workshop, he said.
Researchers at SI Analytics, a South Korean satellite imaging company that uses AI technology to analyze images, also confirmed new construction at the plant on February 11, saying in a report on Monday that some of the construction near the loading area may be used. to hide future factory operations from satellites.
“Considering the presence of many construction materials, vehicles, and open trucks carrying goods around the site, construction appears to be progressing rapidly,” the firm said. The report said the facility was used to manufacture bombs, without naming the KN-23.
Michael Duitsman, who also works in research at CNS, said it was possible that the new building revealed in the satellite images could be a storage facility, but he thought it was more likely a new assembly building.
North Korea’s weapons are part of Russia’s strikes during its war in Ukraine, but their use has caused alarm in Seoul and Washington because it marks the end of almost a decade of agreement between the permanent members of the United Security Council on preventing Pyongyang’s expansion. ballistic missile programs.
SI Analytics said on Monday it also spotted a new building near the February 8 Vinalon Complex, which is believed to be producing rocket fuel. This construction may be aimed at promoting the production of solid propellants or UDMH, special liquid rocket engine fuel, the statement said.
Joseph Dempsey, a military analyst working with the London International Institute for Strategic Studies, said North Korea’s expansion of missile sites could be largely motivated by the desire to develop the country’s arsenal.
He said it was unclear whether Pyongyang might have increased production capacity to meet the demands of its new alliance with Moscow.
More than 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to the Russian region of Kursk, where Ukraine launched a major border crossing in August, according to Washington, Kyiv and Seoul.
The army will fight as part of the Russian army and air force, some of which have already joined the war in Ukraine, a South Korean representative on the parliamentary intelligence committee said on Wednesday.
Russia has not ruled out the involvement of North Korean forces in the war, which has been fought in Ukraine since it launched a full-scale offensive in February 2022.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Additional reporting by Josh Smith in Seoul; Editing by Don Durfee and Daniel Flynn)