North Korea has resumed construction on two key missile factories producing weapons tied to military cooperation with Russia, according to NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery, after the work appeared to face extended delays.

Planet Labs imagery shows new efforts to complete large new manufacturing facilities at the Huichon Youth Electrical Complex, a factory producing anti-aircraft missile systems, and the Sinuiju Measuring Instrument Factory, suspected of making anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM).

NK Pro reported in July that the Huichon project started in mid-2023 and already stalled once before resuming in June this year. 

The Huichon Youth Electrical Complex is strongly linked to surface-to-air missile (SAM) system development since at least late in the Kim Jong Il era and likely continuing under Kim Jong Un’s rule.

While imagery showed partial roofing work and activity on the open-air floor of the 2.5-acre (1-hectare) building from June through early October, the project subsequently went inactive.

But since around Nov. 23, workers have been installing orange-colored roofing material over the large building’s main floor. It was not finished yet as of Dec. 5, but will likely wrap up in the coming weeks, meaning it can soon start to be fitted with advanced machine tools for missile production. 

Moscow may have provided resources for the Huichon factory project in exchange for North Korea’s shipments of ballistic missiles and thousands of soldiers to use against Ukraine. 

The two sides demonstrated their ongoing military cooperation last week when the Russian defense minister visited Pyongyang to meet with leader Kim Jong Un. Top Russian weapons specialists joined the delegation and stayed in North Korea for an extra day, possibly to visit arms plants or otherwise push technical assistance.

South Korea’s intelligence chief said last month that Russia was providing SAM systems to help address poor defenses of its major military installations. This would likely be a short-term solution while Pyongyang finally gets domestic manufacturing up to speed, while the weapons themselves could involve Russian technology or components.

North Korea demonstrated its significant interest in SAMs at a major weapons expo in Pyongyang last month, suggesting plans to mass produce two long-range systems and one short-range one.

NK Pro also previously reported on new large-scale construction at the Sinuiju Measuring Instrument Factory starting in June, which is likely to boost ATGM production. 

Russia has reportedly already acquired new North Korean ATGMs and their carrier vehicles for use in its war on Ukraine, and the renewed factory construction suggests Moscow could have provided a fresh infusion of resources to push the project forward.

Planet Labs imagery shows activity stalled until early October after rapid work from late June to late August to demolish buildings and start constructing what appear to be new production halls.

Then workers installed new red roofing on almost all buildings in the complex throughout the second half of October, and finally began installing roofing on two large and one small new building from around Nov. 12. The work appeared close to finishing as of the latest imagery taken on Dec. 5.

Meanwhile, construction appears ongoing at a likely long-range nuclear missile and satellite rocket engine factory, the Thaesong Machine Plant, located west of Pyongyang.

However, new construction and upgrades at numerous other weapons factories have stalled and failed to resume as of early December.

This includes the Pyeonghwa Motors General Factory producing 240mm multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and the Sinhung Machine Factory producing ATGM carriers and other military vehicles.

Edited by Bryan Betts