This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
Several factories in North Korea have altered their production processes to quickly churn out 152-millimeter artillery shells, officials in the country told Radio Free Asia, but they do not know whether the ammunition is going to Russia for use in its war with Ukraine.
“Key officials at the factory do not know whether the 152 mm artillery shells produced here are intended to support Russia,” an official at a factory in the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“However, considering the production process was urgently prepared immediately after Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia, it is assumed that it is for the purpose of supporting Russia,” he added.
South Korean Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik said in an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri News on July 24, “North Korea-Russia arms trade began in earnest around the visit of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Russia in September last year.”
He also said that the ministry believes that the containers transported from North Korea to Russia as of July 15 contained 5.2 million rounds of 152-millimeter artillery shells, and dozens of short-range ballistic missiles.
North Korean export of munitions would be a violation of international sanctions meant to prevent Pyongyang from funneling resources into its nuclear and missile programs, but the South Korean ministry of defense believes this has already begun.
Shortly after Kim’s trip, several factories that normally make other kinds of ammunition were converted to make 152-millimeter artillery shells, the North Korean officials said.
“The forestry machinery branch factory, located in the valleys of Wangdok, Komsan-dong, Hyesan City has been producing 152-millimeter artillery shells since the beginning of this year,” a second Ryanggang official told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “The goal is to produce 6,000 shells per month, but the target amount has not yet been reached.”
He said that the factory was already making mortar shells, but the change in the production process occurred as soon as Kim returned from Russia last year.
“A new 152-millimeter shell production process was installed in the basement where mortarshells were produced,” he said. “The entire artillery shell production process was completed in less than two months, and test production was successfully carried out at the end of December, before the new year.”
The factory is on the same electrical grid as the city of Samjiyon, but at times where that city experiences rolling blackouts, the factory continues to be supplied. However, the factory has failed to hit shell production targets because raw materials are not supplied consistently, he said.
“The materials needed to produce artillery shells come from China, not Russia,” said the second official, adding that nobody knows how the supplier gets the materials, like special alloys needed to make the shells.
The first official confirmed that another factory in the province changed its process to produce shells.
“Along with the Hyesan Forestry Machinery Branch Factory, the 915 Factory has also been producing 152 mm artillery shells starting this year,” he said.
The shells produced in Ryanggang are then sent to an agricultural machinery factory in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong to be made into finished products, he said.
