Location: P’akch’ŏn-kun (博川郡), North P’yŏng’an Province (平安北道), North Korea

Subordinate to: General Department of Atomic Energy (原子力總局), Cabinet (內閣); and/or the 5th Machine Industry Bureau (5機械工業總局), Korean Workers’ Party (朝鮮勞動黨) [Note: The 5th Machine Industry Bureau was originally under the Atomic Energy Committee (原子力委員會), which is currently called the General Department of Atomic Energy. However, in 1987, when the Atomic Energy Committee was renamed the Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry (原子力工業部), the 5th Machine Industry Bureau was directly placed under the Korean Workers Party.]

Primary Function: Possible production of highly enriched uranium (HEU), and possible reprocessing and storage of plutonium

Description: In January 1962, North Korea established a research institute in Pakch’ŏn-kun, North P’yŏng’an Province. The institute in Pakch’ŏn-kun is now a branch of the Atomic Energy Research Institute (原子力硏究所博川分所). According to Ko Yŏng Hwan, who defected from North Korea in 1991, Austria and France provided Pyongyang with “nuclear equipment” in the mid 1960s for an underground nuclear facility in Pakch’ŏn-kun, which is also the location for a North Korean Air Force fighter base. The area also has a uranium mine and a uranium milling facility. The milling facility is known as the “April Industrial Enterprise (4月企業所),” or the “Unjŏn-kun April Industrial Enterprise (雲田郡4月企業所).” There is no direct evidence of uranium enrichment facilities in Pakch’ŏn-kun, but in October 2002, North Korea admitted that it possesses a program to enrich uranium, and the Pakch’ŏn Underground Nuclear Facility is a possible or potential site for this program.

	Updated April 2003

Key Sources:
David E. Sanger, “North Korea Says It Has a Program on Nuclear Arms,” New York Times, p. A1, 17 October 2002, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>; Oh Young-hwan, “North Continued Nuclear-Arms Project,” Joongang Ilbo, 18 October 2002, <http://english.joins.com/>; “North Korea Suspected of Building Second Nuclear Arms Base,” Agence France Presse, 29 October 1991, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>; KBS Television (Seoul), 13 September 1991, in “In Less than Five Years North Korea Will Collapse from Within,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 18 September 1991, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>; Kim Byŏng Ku et al., Pukhaekkisulch’ongsŏ-I (North Korean Nuclear Issues and the LWR Project), KAERI/AR-552-99, Technology Center for Nuclear Control, November 1999, <http://www.tcnc.kaeri.re.kr/>; Press Statement, Richard Boucher, Spokesman, “North Korean Nuclear Program,” US Department of State, 16 October 2002, <http://www.state.gov/>; Joby Warrick, “U.S. Followed the Aluminum,” Washington Post, 18 October 2002, p. A1, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/>; David E. Sanger and James Dao, “U.S. Says Pakistan Gave Technology to North Korea,” New York Times, 18 October 2002, <http://www.nytimes.com/>; Chang Chun Ik, Pukhan Haek-Missile Chŏnjaeng (Seoul: Sŏmundang, May 1999), p. 116; Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., North Korea’s Nuclear Infrastructure,” Jane’s Intelligence Review, February 1994, p. 77.