Location: Sariwŏn (沙里院市), North Hwanghae Province (黃海北道), North Korea

Size: Planned production target of 510,000 tons of potash fertilizer. [Note: The time frame of the production target, such as per year, or per planning period, is not clear.]

Subordinate to: 5th Machine Industry Bureau (第5機械産業總局), Second Economic Committee (第2經濟委員會) for chemical weapons production; and the Ministry of Chemical Industry (化學工業省) for civilian production

Primary Function: Fertilizer production; possible CW agent production

Description: Construction of the Sariwŏn Potash Fertilizer Complex began in September 1986. The complex was originally planned to be completed by Kim Il Songs 80-year birthday in 1992, but it might still be under construction, according to South Korean media sources. There are few details, but this facility has been linked to the North Korea’s chemical weapons program, possibly as a site for CW agent manufacture. There are also reports that the 38th Battalion under the Nuclear and Chemical Defense Bureau is billeted at this complex as a reserve unit.

Sariwŏn Potash Complex, construction still underway in the early 1990s (Nodong Sinmun, 2 March 1992)

Another angle of the Sariwŏn Potash Complex (Nodong Sinmun, 23 March 1992)

Photograph depicts construction of a kiln, Sariwŏn Potash Complex, Women of Korea, October-December 1990

Transport system assembly at Sariwŏn Potash Complex, Women of Korea, October-December 1990

	Updated April 2003

Key Sources:
Various sources, in “DPRK’s Sariwon Potassic Fertilizer Complex, Suspect CW Site, Profiled,” FBIS Document ID: KPP20010102000099; Various sources, in “Alleged Locations of DPRK Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Warfare Facilities Mapped,” FBIS Document ID: KPP20010606000075; Chŏng In Hwa, “Kim Il Sŏng 80 Hoe Saeng’il Imojŏmo,” Kyunghyang Shinmun, 13 April 1992, p. 7, in KINDS, <http://www.kinds.or.kr/>; “Hwanghae Pukto, Ha: Saerossŭnŭn Pungnyŏkchiri,” Taehan Maeil, 9 March 1992, p. 8, in KINDS, <http://www.kinds.or.kr/>; North Korea Information Bank, “Sariwŏnk’aribiryŏyŏnhapkiŏp,” Hyundai Research Institute, 2000, <http://www.nk-infobank.com/>.