An underground lair is believed to be at the heart of North Korea’s secret weapons industry (Image: File Images)
A huge underground weapons factory, believed to be the largest in North Korea’s military nexus, has been captured in satellite images analyzed by an open-source researcher.
The clandestine Kanggye General Tractor Plant is believed to employ up to 20,000 people in what is believed to be the engine room of the rogue state’s defense infrastructure.
Beneath the seedy surface layout, the plant, also known as Factory #26, has vast underground sections accessed by numerous tunnels dotting the hillside over a 1.2km stretch.
American explorer Jacob Bogle found clues suggesting the scale of the subterranean levels, including ventilation shafts protruding from the ground.
Based on his analysis, the nondescript-looking factory could theoretically be 176,000 square meters in size, roughly equivalent to 25 football fields.
In a setting reminiscent of a Bond villain’s lair, workers toil on multiple subterranean levels and several kilometers of tunnels forming a wide array of weapons. Ammunition, including anti-tank artillery and small arms ammunition, is among the materials produced at the key plant.
Located in the northern part of the country in Chagang province, the weapons production base is also believed to be involved in production processes that will be of interest to Western intelligence agencies.
Precision-machined components for short-range ballistic missiles are believed to be manufactured at Kanggye before being sent to other facilities for final assembly. Fuses, metal casings and other parts for chemical weapons have also come off the production line, according to unsubstantiated reports. In the 1960s, Kanggye was rumored to have been a production site for centrifuges used in uranium enrichment in the early days of North Korea’s nuclear program.
Satellite images showing the location of the weapons factory (Photo: Jacob Bogle/@jacobbogle/Google Earth)
“The average person looking at the factory would probably have no idea how big or important it is,” Mr Bogle told Metro.co.uk.
“Outside, in front of the hill on which the underground part is located, there are about 50 hectares of administrative buildings, warehouses and even a small stadium where the employees can play football.
“The factory is kind of nondescript. But then all you have to do is look up the hill and you’ll see small buildings extending straight into the rock and at least nine entrance tunnels.
“It’s actually kind of hard to count exactly how many tunnels there are.”
The researcher, who is based in Tampa, Florida, collected and analyzed images of underground factories around North Korea, most of which have up to three access tunnels.
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Kanggye’s well-developed layout and production structure includes at least nine, indicating that its personnel can operate multiple lines of weapons and equipment simultaneously.
Workers are said to be subjected to thorough searches when entering their underground workplace, with guards on the lookout for lighters, matches or anything that could start a fire.
Pictures released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state news agency, show workers in a swimming pool and giving a dance demonstration in a gym during a visit by supreme leader Kim Jong Un.
In 2010, a defector who worked for North Korea’s munitions plant told the South’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper that the site was the regime’s “main weapons production base.”
Nine years later, Kim said he wanted to put the plant “at a higher level in the world” and was shown touring the facility in photos released by KCNA.
Kim Jong Un talks with officials as he visits the Kanggye Underground General Tractor Plant (Photo: Rodong Sinmun/KCNA) The supreme leader watches workers swim in a pool in photos released after his tour of the plant (Photo: Rodong Sinmun/KCNA)
“So to continue with the analogy of Bond’s misdeeds, you have this somewhat normal-looking factory surrounded by the mountains of the region,” Mr Bogle said. “But then you look more closely and you see this hidden network of tunnels, all producing weapons for one of the largest armies in the world and headed by a man who killed his own brother and uncle.”
One thing the growing plant doesn’t make are tractors.
Computer numerical control machines used to automate factory processes enable the production of complex, high-precision products and make it one of the most advanced facilities in the country.
Underscoring its importance, the plant has hosted visits by Kim, including one in 2019 when he spoke of his gratitude to workers and was pictured next to machinery. The two predecessors of the leader have also visited.
The plant has its roots in a site established soon after the end of the Korean War in 1953 as a small arms factory that was split into three, with each part moved to different areas of the country, according to the blogger.
The label “tractor” comes from the Soviet nomenclature, which usually denotes a military plant.
Kim Jong Un told workers at the long-standing weapons factory to upgrade it to an “advanced level” (Image: KCNA) The supreme leader is given a prime view of a dance exhibition during a tour of the weapons manufacturing base (Image: KCNA)
Working in a major arms factory for a country considered a rogue state by the world carries obvious dangers.
In November 1991, a large explosion blamed on mishandling of incendiary materials was reported to have killed at least 1,000 people. The death toll could reach 6,000, including pregnant women, according to some local residents cited in a report by Daily NK, an online newspaper based in South Korea.
An area of nearly a kilometer was destroyed, possibly damaging every building above ground and blowing out windows in a much wider radius.
Kim Jong Un speaks in front of a model showing a construction plan for the cities of Kanggye and Manpo in Chagang Province (Photo: KCNA)
Unsurprisingly, the regime has never officially acknowledged a disaster, although satellite imagery from the time, at a much lower resolution than current mapping, and accounts by defectors suggest a major incident occurred.
Further open-source research shows that it took up to four years to clear and reconstruct the site, with no new residential buildings facing the factory, although there are inhabited settlements just inland.
Mr Bogle said: “We know that North Korea is one of the worst offenders when it comes to unsafe working conditions and has the highest incidence of work-related deaths in the world according to a study published in 2021 by the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization.
Open source research shows there was a major disaster in 1991 (Photo: Jacob Bogle/Google Earth)
In fact, the death rate actually increased between 2000 and 2016. However, like anywhere else, some industries are safer than others.
“In Kanggye, there are recreational facilities such as a stadium and a swimming pool, there is a medical clinic and there are other amenities for the workers and their families.
“Work at the factory is likely to be difficult and there will be no public discussion of injuries or safety lapses, but there is no reason to believe that workers are any less safe than at other North Korean weapons factories.”
Kim could tap into the shuttered plant’s resources amid fears his regime is set to carry out its first nuclear test in five years.
According to representatives of the United States and South Korea, a demonstration of the state’s capabilities could happen at any time. Tensions have shown no signs of easing in the past week, as the North has accused the US, South Korea and Japan of carrying out what it described as “aggressive moves”.
The belligerent announcement came on June 25, as Pyongyang marked the 72nd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.
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