Among the mountains southwest of Pyongyang, a new building has become the last great mystery of North Korea. It appears in a satellite image captured on June 9 by Planet Labs that indicates an annex as striking as disconcerting. There are no windows, only a long and high structure that seems designed for something that is preferred to keep hidden. Missiles? Anti -aircraft systems? The first hypotheses are already on the table, but the answers, as always, are much more difficult to obtain.
A complex with decades of history. The Missile Factory Chamjin is not any installation. American spy satellite files already mentioned it in the 60s as a nerve point of the North Korean missile program. It is officially known as Thaesong plant, and hides in a narrow valley, surrounded by spikes and protected by control stalls and anti -aircraft nests. There, between tunnels excavated in the mountain and industrial pavilions, some of the rockets that give muscle to the military force of the country are assembled.
The great remodeling of 2023 and 2024. For decades, the western part of the Missile Factory Chamjin remained almost intact, with aged industrial pavilions and deteriorated ceilings. Everything changed in recent years, when the largest of these buildings received a complete renewal, including a new roof that caught the attention of analysts. That movement was just the beginning. In July 2024, the works intensified: three industrial ships and several minor buildings were demolished to give way to larger structures.
It was at that time that the renewed pavilion incorporated the annex that today concentrates all eyes, a piece that breaks the known silhouette of the factory and suggests a new stage in the complex.
What hides behind the annex? The new annex does not go unnoticed. With its 65 meters long, 18 wide and about 15 high – measures calculated by researcher John Ford, James Martin Center for Nonproliferion Studies and cited by Defense News -, the structure seems designed for tests with long and heavy objects.
The specialist warns that the design does not fit at all with the needs of the largest rockets of North Korean arsenal. One of the most solid theories points to the anti -aircraft systems Pongae 5 or Pongae 6, which Pyongyang has promoted in recent months without still showing in public. The annex, according to this reading, could be destined to test the vertical deployment of the launch pipes of these systems, or even assemble the vehicles that transport them.
For now, everything is interpretations. North Korea rarely shows what happens in its military factories and satellite images only offer fragmented clues. But, judging by the architecture and location of the new building, analysts agree that their function is linked, in one way or another, to the heart of the missile program.
The shadows of military cooperation. The expansion of the Missile Factory Chamjin does not happen in a vacuum. Since Moscow and Pyongyang reinforced their military ties, North Korean factories have experienced accelerated modernization. Analysts such as Colin Zwirko, from NK News, point out that the construction rhythm in key facilities is related to the supply of weapons to Russia for war in Ukraine.
Missiles, artillery projectiles and industrial components have left these plants to Moscow, and the money received could be financing improvements such as the new annex.
The propaganda narrative and the role of Kim Ju-Ae. In North Korea, visitors to missile factories are not just technical inspections: they are carefully designed messages. At the beginning of 2023, Kim Jong-un appeared at the Thaesong plant accompanied by his daughter Kim Ju-Ae, an image that toured state news. Since then, Kim Ju-Ae has become a recurring face of military propaganda. According to Newsis analysts, it seeks to project the arms program as a shield for the safety of new generations.
Images | Kremlin | Planet Labs (Via Defense News)
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