Uiju Military Airfield Welcomes Back Bombers
North Korea’s Uiju Airfield is back in business. Commercial satellite imagery shows the return of 31 Ilyushin IL-28 medium-range bombers to the base, ending a three-and-a-half-year absence while the airfield served as a quarantine center for incoming goods from China.
Their return rebalances North Korea’s bomber aircraft between bases on the east and west coasts after having them all based on the east coast during Uiju Airfield’s closure. It also represents another step in North Korea’s move back to pre-pandemic conditions.
Quarantine Center
Conversion of the airfield into a quarantine center began in March 2021, approximately a year after North Korea closed its borders to all travelers and most cargo. The quarantine center began operating in December 2021, when trains began to arrive, and containers began to populate the main runway.
That continued into early 2024, but by April, the number of containers had decreased significantly. By August, all had been removed, and the restoration of the airfield had begun. Also in early 2024, quarantine warehouses were periodically dismantled. On September 22, the paint marking began on the runway while work to restore other areas of the airfield continued in anticipation of the regiment’s return.
In order support the temporary quarantine mission of the airfield, in the first half of 2021, the IL-28 regiment deployed to airbases on the country’s east coast—Changjin, home to another squadron of IL-28, and Sondok, a transport aircraft facility home to Antonov AN-2s.
Return of the Bombers
On imagery from October 4, five of the aircraft were observed on the southeast alert apron, 16 were on the northeast apron, and nine were located at the far eastern apron queued in front of one of two aircraft storage tunnels at the base.
The last of the IL-28s never departed the airfield, likely because it was not flight worthy. It has been parked in one of a series of revetments along a service road south of the aircraft tunnels. Two of the other revetments along the road hold 12 and eight MIG-21 aircraft, respectively, all of which had been stored in the revetments throughout the conversion period.
The bombers, which are also referred to as Harbin B-5, belong to the nation’s 24th Bomber Regiment.