Manufacturer catalog
North Korean defense industry is the DPRK's state-directed missile, artillery, and ordnance production base, including Scud-derived ballistic missiles, newer solid-propellant systems, multiple rocket launchers, and munitions factories. Public reporting describes a large but opaque military-industrial sector organized around state planning bodies, machine factories, and weapons programs rather than transparent commercial producers.
8 weaponsNorth Korea's arms industry is embedded in the country's second economy, a military economy that 38 North describes as overseen by the Second Economic Commission and tied to the Workers' Party of Korea's Munitions Industry Department. The sector includes munitions factories, missile-related machine plants, and research centers that support the DPRK's missile and artillery modernization programs.
Open-source reporting identifies a broad network rather than a single company. 38 North's 2024 review of missile-related munitions factories cited South Korean reporting on more than 300 munitions factories, fewer than 100 operating because of material and power constraints, and separate estimates of roughly 60 to 80 active factories, with about 20 factories linked to missile production and assembly.
CSIS and the HCoC short-range systems report place Hwasong-5 in North Korea's Scud-derived short-range missile base, making it one of the clearest early examples of domestic missile production.
Sources: Hwasong-5, North Korean Short Range Systems
CSIS describes Hwasong-6 as a North Korean Scud-C derivative, linking the country's early production base to a longer-range branch of the Scud-derived missile family.
Sources: Hwasong-6, North Korean Short Range Systems
The Scud-C line reflects derivative production and export-oriented missile development within the North Korean missile sector.
Sources: R-11 (SS-1) Scud, North Korean Short Range Systems
CSIS and the HCoC report describe the KN-23 and KN-24 as modern North Korean solid-fuel short-range ballistic missiles, showing the sector's move beyond liquid-fueled Scud derivatives.
Sources: KN-23, KN-24, North Korean Short Range Systems
38 North reported that North Korean state media connected a newly established national defence industrial enterprise under the Second Economy Commission to 240 mm multiple-rocket-launcher shell production in 2024.
Sources: Quick Take: North Korea's National Defence Industrial EnterpriseOpen-source missile references place the Hwasong-5 and Hwasong-6 families in North Korea's short-range deep-strike architecture by the mid-1980s, establishing the sector's early production base.
Sources: Hwasong-5, Hwasong-6, North Korean Short Range Systems
The HCoC short-range systems study says North Korea had carried out more than fifty tests of its KN-23, KN-24, and KN-25 solid-propellant missiles by the start of 2023, showing a modernized production base.
Sources: North Korean Short Range Systems
38 North reported that North Korean media described a newly established national defence industrial enterprise under the Second Economy Commission producing 240 mm multiple-rocket-launcher shells, illustrating how new state production entities can appear without normal corporate disclosure.
Sources: Quick Take: North Korea's National Defence Industrial Enterprise
A 38 North analysis of the Hwasong-19 test noted construction at the Thaesong Machine Factory, a strategic rocket-engine production facility, as evidence that North Korea's missile-industrial base continues to expand.
Sources: North Korea Tests New Solid ICBM Probably Intended for MIRVs
Public English-language sources usually describe North Korea's defense industry as a state-directed military-industrial sector rather than a transparent corporation. Precise headquarters data is not reliably published, so headquarters and map fields are omitted.
Category
Tube artillery, rocket artillery, and long-range ground fires.
Category
Standalone missiles, bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and guided or unguided explosive payloads.
