Location: Kŭmch’ang-ri (金倉里), Taegwan-kun (大館郡), North P’yŏng’an Province (平安北道), North Korea

Subordinate to: Unknown

Size: an excavated area of about 400,000m2, four tunnels, two dams, a pipeline, and a staff housing area, all within a 4km radius

Primary Function: Unknown

Description: According to the US Department of Defense, construction of pipelines and underground tunnels at Kŭmch’ang-ri began in 1989. According to a Japanese report, construction at the site was nearing completion in May 1999. The Shindonga monthly news magazine quotes a US Department of Defense official as saying the construction at Kŭmch’ang-ri was done by the same unit that built the nuclear facilities in Yŏngbyŏn, which raised suspicions about Kŭmch’ang-ri. [Note: The nuclear facilities in Yŏngbyŏn were reportedly built by the Third Engineer Bureau of the Nuclear Development Unit (核開發部隊3工兵局).] Furthermore, defector Kim Tae Ho claimed in 1994 that the Third Engineer Bureau had built a nuclear storage facility in Tae’gwan-kun, North P’yŏng’an Province in October 1988. Since there are no other apparent nuclear facilities in the area, Kim could have been referring to Kŭmch’ang-ri.

In August 1998, press reports indicated that US reconnaissance satellites had discovered a large excavation project in the area. It is unclear when the satellite imagery first revealed the construction, but some analysts had become suspicious that it was part of a clandestine project to establish nuclear-related facilities underground. Some believed the site was large enough to conceal a reactor and/or reprocessing facility, and that the dams and pipeline would be part of a reactor cooling system.

In November 1998, a US delegation visited Pyongyang and asked to inspect the site, but North Korean officials replied that the site was for food storage, and that the United States would have to pay a fee of $300 million for access. The United States refused, but the two sides agreed to hold further meetings on the matter. In March 1999, an agreement was reached for an on-site inspection, which US officials conducted in May 1999. The two sides denied there was any quid pro quo, but North Korea did receive 600,000 tons of food (worth about $300 million) through the World Food Program and other organizations.

The inspection revealed nothing but vast underground tunnels, and US inspectors concluded that the Kŭmch’ang-ri facility is not a nuclear-related site. These findings were confirmed in a second inspection that was conducted in May 2000. Critics argue that these inspections do not preclude the possibility of the site being converted to a nuclear facility in the future.

[Note: According to North Korean defector Lee Ch’un Sŏn, the Kŭmch’ang-ri underground facility is where exhaust fumes have been ventilated from an underground uranium milling plant at Mt. Ch’ŏnma (天摩山), which is about 30km northwest of Kŭmch’ang-ri. See the Ch’ŏnma-san Uranium Milling Facility.]

	Updated April 2003

Key Sources:
ROK Ministry of National Defense, Taeryangsalsangmugi (WMD) Mun’dappaekkwa:Hwa Saeng Pang Missile Ŏlmana Algo Kyeshimnikka? (Seoul: Ministry of National Defense, 2001), p. 117; “Pukhan Inmingun Changsŏnŭi Ch’unggyŏkjŭngŏn,” Shindonga, August 2001, <http://www.donga.com/>; Shindonga, “Exclusive—Shocking Testimony of Defected DPRK General, ‘North Korea’s Nuclear Material Production Base Exists Under Mt. Ch’onma,” 1 August 2001, pp. 196-204, in “DPRK General: Nuclear Material Production Base Exists Underground Mt. Ch’onma,” FBIS Document ID: KPP20010725000058; David E. Sanger, “North Korea Site an A-Bomb Plant, U.S. Agencies Say,” New York Times, 17 August 1998, p. A1; Sid Balman Jr., “N. Korea Links Inspection to Money,” United Press International, 18 November 1998, in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>; Kim Pyŏng Ku, et al., Pukhaekkisulch’ongsŏ-I (Taejŏn: Technology Center for Nuclear Control, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, November 1999), <http://www.tcnc.kaeri.re.kr/>; Takashi Uemura, “Beicho, Chika‘sasatsu’de Goi 5gatsuni Dai 1kai Chosa,” Asahi Shimbun, 17 March 1999; Ch’u Sŭng Ho, “Puk Kŭmch’angni Chihashisŏl Haekkwallyŏn Chŭnggŏ Itta,” Taehan Maeil, 20 November 1998, p. 1, in KINDS, <http://www.kinds.or.kr>; Kyumok’ŭgo Kip’ŭn San’gol Poanshisŏlkkaji Katch’wŏ Ŭihokdŏhae/Kŭmch’angni Ŏttŏngos’in’ga,” Munhwa Ilbo, 20 November 1998, p. 3, in KINDS, <http://www.kinds.or.kr>; Yun Sang Sam, “Puk Yong’ŏdong Chiharie Missile Kiji Kŏnsŏljung,” Donga Ilbo, 24 December 1998, p. 10, in KINDS, <http://www.kinds.or.kr>; Shukan Posuto, “North Korea’s ‘Nukes’ Place World in ‘Crisis’ Again,” 16 April 1999, in “Weekly Reveals Alleged DPRK Nuclear Facilities” FBIS Document ID: FTS19990410000079; Osamu Eya, Kimu Jon Iru Daizukan (Tokyo: Shogakkan, 2000), p. 60; Kwŏn Sun Hwal, “Puk Kŭmch’angni Haek’ŭihokshisŏl Tŭrŏna Il NHK Podo,” Donga Ilbo, 19 May 1999, p. 1, in KINDS, <http://www.kinds.or.kr>.