North Korea Expanding KN-23 Missile Production for Use by Russia

North Korea is expanding a weapons plant that manufactures missiles being used by Russia against Ukraine, according to analysts from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), who had examined recent satellite imagery produced by Planet Labs PBC.

North Korea’s state news agency KCNA confirmed earlier in November that construction was underway at the plant but categorized it as a modernization program that had been planned for implementation in 2024.

The “February 11” plant, part of the Ryongsong Machine Complex, is located near the country’s second-largest city, Hamhung, and is known to produce the Hwasong 11A and 11B short range ballistic missiles, known in the West as the KN-23 and KN-24. Reuters was told by Sam Lair, a research associate at CNS, that the Hamhung facility is the only plant in North Korea capable of producing the Hwasong-11 (KN-23/24) solid-fuel ballistic missiles.