Subordinate to: Possibly Second Economic Committee (第2經濟委員會), National Defense Commission (國防委員會)

Primary Function: Nozzle production

Description: North Korean defector "Lee Yŏng Shik" (pseudonym) says this factory produces nozzles that are used in the assembly of missiles at the No. 26 Factory in Kanggye, Chagang Province. There are a number of ways to interpret Lee's statement about "nozzle production." The simplest interpretation is that this facility produces "nozzles" for unguided rockets. In the case of simple rockets, the nozzle is screwed into the back of the rocket airframe. If the No. 26 Factory, as reported, produces relatively basic munitions, this interpretation is plausible.

Alternatively, his statement could be interpreted as a reference to production of combustion chamber/nozzle assemblies for Scud-type ballistic missiles. In this case, the production process is technically more demanding, and would require components such as mandrels, jigs, a flow former, a brazing furnace, a circumferential welding machine, a hyrdrostatic test bench, and a metallurgic X-ray machine. [Note: There appears to be no other open source information about this facility.]

	Updated April 2003

Key Sources:
Interview with South Korean Ministry of Unification official by Mari Sudo, research associate, Center for Nonproliferation Studies (via e-mail), 1 February 2002; Interview with Osamu Eya by Mari Sudo, research associate, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Tokyo, 9 October 2002; Eya Osamu, Seimitsu: Sekaikikenchizu; Hanransuru Kitachosen (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten, 1995), p. 229.