{"id":72007,"date":"2025-09-05T09:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T09:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/09\/05\/long-sought-manufacturing-gains-are-boosting-north-korea-arms-buildup\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:10:00","slug":"long-sought-manufacturing-gains-are-boosting-north-korea-arms-buildup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/asia-pacific\/2025\/09\/05\/long-sought-manufacturing-gains-are-boosting-north-korea-arms-buildup\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-sought manufacturing gains are boosting North Korea arms buildup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BERLIN \u2014 When North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un visited what state media called an \u201cautomated missile factory\u201d in late August, he pranced past endless rows of ballistic missiles, each capable of accurately delivering a nuclear warhead to Seoul with minutes\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The remarkable success of the hermit regime\u2019s missile program is a direct consequence of Pyongyang\u2019s concerted effort to make up for decades of shortcomings in defense manufacturing processes, according to experts and open-source information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visiting the unnamed missile facility days before heading to China to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/asia-pacific\/2025\/09\/03\/xi-putin-kim-jong-un-unite-at-glitzy-china-military-parade\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/asia-pacific\/2025\/09\/03\/xi-putin-kim-jong-un-unite-at-glitzy-china-military-parade\/\">watch a big military parade in Beijing<\/a>, North Korean state media <a href=\"http:\/\/kcna.kp\/en\/article\/q\/437a3e3e4cd7d309b180cfb2ae44d1fc.kcmsf\" rel=\"\">said<\/a> Kim Jong Un \u201cwas greatly satisfied to hear the report that the automated assembly-line production system was established.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea\u2019s tightly controlled foreign news outlet, the automated equipment in the factory dealt with \u201cprecision processing, measuring and assembling different parts,\u201d included quality control stations, and resulted in \u201cincreasing the productivity and ensuring the qualitative character of the products.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The focus on automated machining that North Korean leadership has preached for the past decade, experts say, has played a key role in allowing the country to develop a missile-based nuclear deterrent much faster than the Soviet Union and the U.S. did during the Cold War, despite Pyongyang being under strict international sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s more, there are indications that the drive for automation is paying dividends for North Korea\u2019s defense industry at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile previous policies focused heavily on nuclear and missile development, the current approach has expanded to include the modernization of conventional weapon systems, innovation in production processes, and the incorporation of advanced technologies such as unmanned systems and artificial intelligence,\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.inss.re.kr\/upload\/bbs\/BBSA05\/202506\/F20250602154129173.pdf\" rel=\"\"> wrote<\/a> Sang-jung Byun and Seungwoo Kim, researchers with South Korea\u2019s Institute for National Security Strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese accelerated and diversified modernization efforts, especially in conjunction with technology transfers from Russia, have the potential to significantly enhance not only North Korea\u2019s nuclear and missile capabilities but also its conventional military forces,\u201d they assessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sharing of knowledge and technology that could be used for military purposes with North Korea remains illegal under UN rules passed with Moscow\u2019s support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">From lathes to computers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For most of its existence, North Korea\u2019s weapons industry \u2013 the \u201csecond economy,\u201d as it is often called in domestic parlance \u2013 was built on cheap mass labor and support from the Soviet Union. And while at least the former still exists today, it presented a natural upper limit for both the quality and quantity of military production that the country could output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This started to change in the 2000s under Kim Jong Il, the father of the current leader and also the man who oversaw the development of North Korea\u2019s own nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jong Il emphasized the development of computerized machine tools, both for the domestic economy and, crucially, as a money maker in the form of exports. The country, officially known as the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea, has been chronically cash-strapped for decades, and the situation has been worsened by UN-imposed sanctions in response to its weapons of mass destruction programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So great was the enthusiasm about the new technology that the state even produced a bizarrely upbeat<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/sPPlTX2a974\" rel=\"\"> propaganda song exalting the glory<\/a> of the CNC machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfortunately for the father Kim, the domestic CNC machining industry reached maturity just as the world plunged into the depths of the years-long Great Recession and the financial crisis that began in 2007. He died in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Kim Jong Un\u2019s accession to power in 2012, the focus for North Korea\u2019s newfound domestic CNC abilities appears to have shifted from being an export endeavor to being used as a boost for the domestic industry. This shift coincided with a rethinking of the country\u2019s defense doctrine: Instead of relying on 20th-century weapons, Kim Jong Un placed a much heavier emphasis on missiles, strategic deterrence and cutting-edge technology than previous leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Missiles, however, are tough to get right even for the most technologically advanced countries, said John Ford, a research associate at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies who studies North Korea and has kept abreast of its propaganda output for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Manual production processes were simply too imprecise \u2013 and too slow \u2013 to build up an effective missile force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor something as complex and as explosive as a missile, minor differences in components can lead to rapid unscheduled disassembly \u2026 your missile can just blow up because a bolt that\u2019s supposed to be this size is actually slightly too small because your lathe operator has a different idea of what a bolt looks like,\u201d said Ford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Enter: the CNC machine<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CNC tools provide uniform components and better reliability across production cycles. Previously, North Korea had to clandestinely import foreign CNC machines for the most critical components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, propaganda photographs released from inside the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/asia-pacific\/2025\/07\/23\/mysterious-annex-at-north-korean-missile-plant-has-analysts-puzzled\/\" rel=\"\"> Chamjin Missile Factory<\/a> showed a German-made, five-axis machine tool that was imported in violation of sanctions, possibly by way of Taiwan, and likely used to produce impellers, a key part of the turbopump powering the engine of liquid-fueled missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the mid-2010s, North Korea had developed a reliable domestic supply of machine tools, allowing it to systematically upgrade its industry. In 2015, Pyongyang\u2019s Automation Institute at Kim Chaek University of Technology received a fancy new glass and steel building, and the organization began sending consultants around the country to re-skill factories from lathes to CNC machines, according to Ford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While likely not the sole factor, missile testing success rates have improved in parallel with the automation efforts, and North Korea made big strides toward the ultimate goal of a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile \u2013 a target that Kim Jong Un\u2019s team reached in 2023 with the successful test of the Hwasong-18 missile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey can make a nuke go up, they can make it go a very long distance, and they can make it come down, and so that\u2019s kind of all you need,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, it\u2019s about expanding the arsenal and doing so at scale. The reference to \u201cserial production\u201d in North Korean media coverage of Kim Jong Un\u2019s recent missile factory visit likely plays to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An eye on exports<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And it likely also is a message to a key foreign audience member: Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has emerged as a major client for North Korean weapons, including missiles, for use in his invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DPRK\u2019s rockets, including the type Hwasong-11 that Kim Jong Un inspected at the factory on Aug. 31, have rained down on Ukrainian cities and soldiers with devastating results, fired by Russian troops and an increasing number of North Korean soldiers that have been dispatched to assist the Kremlin in its war of aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most trade with North Korea and all support for its military programs remains internationally prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions that were passed with Russia\u2019s and China\u2019s agreement to curtail Pyongyang\u2019s nuclear weapons program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, with the multilateral system in crisis, Russia has begun openly cooperating with North Korea, including in prohibited fields, and China has long been suspected of only selectively enforcing the sanctions against its Korean neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">North Korea has long sought to export its weapons as a source of cash, and has done so with some success in the past. It maintains a global web of front and shell companies to engage in sanctions circumvention and sell weapons to the highest \u2013 or only \u2013 bidder, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/asia-pacific\/2025\/01\/27\/sanctioned-north-korean-arms-makers-find-new-cover-in-russias-shadow\/\" rel=\"\">Defense News investigation<\/a> has shown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the country\u2019s decade-long automation program bearing fruit, and buoyed by a more favorable international environment, there is a new risk that Pyongyang may be successful in sending destabilizing military equipment to indiscriminate buyers abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The decade-long drive for automation is paying dividends for North Korea\u2019s defense industry at large.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":120350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":45,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[45,160,11,36],"tags":[8592,8596],"coauthors":[3463],"class_list":["post-72007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-newsletters","tag-china","tag-north-korea"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"DQXC6PXHINAQ5JAZJTM5T4P6HE","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/asia-pacific\/2025\/09\/05\/long-sought-manufacturing-gains-are-boosting-north-korea-arms-buildup\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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