R&D Areas North of Hamhung: North Korea’s Chemical Facilities: Site Profile 3

The area to the north of the city of Hamhung is home to academic institutions and research and development (R&D) facilities. Furthermore, there are access tunnels to likely underground areas in the vicinity, and the wider region is home to significant chemical industry. Although literature on these facilities is limited, satellite imagery has been analysed to determine whether it is possible to discern any linkages with or provide insight on North Korea’s chemical industry or chemical weapons (CW) programme. Although evidence was circumstantial and no direct linkages could be identified on imagery, the analysis was able to confirm the location of several academic and R&D facilities and contribute to baselining potential academic and R&D facilities in the area. 

While the location of at least part of a CW programme in or around these facilities cannot be ruled out, there were no features that would indicate the likely presence of a CW programme in these facilities.

This report was authored by members of the RUSI Project Anthracite Team, who provide varying levels of input to the reports produced by the project.

The team includes the following: 

Lennie Phillips is Senior Research Fellow, Chemical Weapons in the Proliferation and Nuclear Policy research team at RUSI. 

Sean Corbett is a Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI. David Crouch is a Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI. 

Jack Crawford is a Research Fellow in the Proliferation and Nuclear Policy research team at RUSI. 

Gareth Williams is a Senior Research Fellow in the Proliferation and Nuclear Policy research team at RUSI. 

Stephen Mercado is an independent contractor. 

Yuseong Choi is an independent contractor. 

Hailey Wingo is a Researcher at VERTIC. Nathan Hunt is an independent contractor. 

Gianguiseppe Pili is an Associate Fellow at RUSI and an Assistant Professor in the Intelligence Analysis Program at James Madison University. 

Samuel Rooker is a student in the Intelligence Analysis Program of James Madison University.