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North Korea Military Industry
North Korea's extensive defense production capability
reflects its commitment to self-reliance. Although most equipment
is of Soviet or Chinese design, P'yongyang has modified the
original designs and produces both derivatives and indigenously
designed versions of armored personnel carriers, self-propelled
artillery, light tanks, and high-speed landing craft
(see Relations with the Third World
, this ch.).
In mid-1993 North Korea had an impressive, if technologically
dated, military production capacity. Ground systems production
included a complete line of armored vehicles, field artillery,
including a new turreted self-propelled artillery piece first
seen in April 1992, and crew- and individual-served weapons.
Naval construction included surface combatants up to 1,400 tons,
Romeo class submarines, air-cushioned vehicles, and a wide range
of specialized infiltration craft. Missile production included
antitank guided missiles (AT-3), SA-7 Grail (Soviet surface-to-
air missiles produced at the Chongyul Arms Plant), and possibly
SA-14 or SA-16 follow-ons, possibly SA-2s, and Scud-derived
surface-to-surface missiles. Aircraft production was limited to a
partial spare parts and assembly capacity, assembly or
coproduction of the Mi-2 helicopter, and production of small
trainers. Since the mid-1980s, there has been speculation that
North Korea's aircraft-related facility at Panghyn would begin
production of a jet combat aircraft--possibly a MiG-21
derivative--but as of 1992 no production had occurred. In 1991
South Korean sources believed North Korea might be able to
produce its own fighters by 1995. In 1993 two MiG-29s were
assembled at the Panghyn plant from kits supplied by Russia.
Assembly was halted because of North Korea's inability to pay for
more parts.
In 1990 North Korea had some 134 arms factories, many of them
completely or partially concealed underground. These facilities
produce ground service arms, ammunition, armored vehicles, naval
craft, aircraft (spares and subassemblies), missiles,
electronics, and possibly chemical-related materials. In
addition, some 115 nonmilitary factories have a dedicated wartime
matériel production mission.
North Korea's arms and munitions industry predate the Korean
War. After the war, North Korea began to expand its arms
production base through licensing agreements with the Soviet
Union. North Korea initially depended on the Soviet Union and
China for licensed technology and complete industrial plants. In
the 1970s, North Korea was developing variants of standard Soviet
and Chinese equipment. Acquisitions from these two sources were
augmented beginning in the early 1970s by an outreach program
aimed at acquiring Western dual-use technology and equipment.
This program included a wide range of initiatives, from acquiring
Japanese trucks and electronic gear to obtaining Austrian forging
equipment with gun barrel applications, to purchasing United
States-manufactured helicopters. North Korea compensates for its
limited research and development base by producing a range of
more basic systems in quantity.
The defense industrial base is difficult to assess
accurately. P'yongyang desires state-of-the-art technology, but
is unable to obtain it. Older weapons systems are obtainable,
however, and North Korea is able to reverse engineer major
systems and to modify and improve on them. Nevertheless, it still
lags dramatically behind military state of the art because the
systems remain dated. Because of its uneven technological base,
North Korea apparently places the highest priority on quantity to
make up for a lack of quality.
Data as of June 1993
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