Munchon Naval Complex Construction Progresses

Two months after Kim Jong Un visited Tapchon Port on North Korea’s east coast and announced plans to build a large naval base, commercial satellite imagery shows no signs of construction advancing at the site. Tapchon is part of a larger complex of naval facilities in the Munchon area, previously the home of the KPA East Fleet Headquarters. However, across the bay, there is significant work to expand the existing October 3 Dockyard and Korean People’s Army (KPA) Navy Unit 155 Base. Together with Tapchon Port, these facilities are all part of the Munchon Naval Complex.

Kim visited the future site of the Tapchon naval base in early September and said its construction would be a “pressing task” if the country’s navy were able to moor “large surface warships and submarines which cannot be anchored at the existing facilities.”

Long piers and several buildings were constructed at the port between 2015 and 2022, but none appear to have been put into regular use. Some still remain incomplete on imagery from November 6. While perhaps a less-than-auspicious start for the naval base project, Kim’s emphasis on the importance of this new base to the navy’s future suggests work should pick up in the near future. A slow start following Kim’s visit is not uncommon—for example, at Sohae Satellite Launching Station, modernization and expansion efforts did not begin in earnest immediately following Kim’s mandate.

Tapchon Port

There have been no discernable changes at the Tapchon port area since Kim’s visit in September, despite Kim calling the site’s expansion a pressing task. Fishing boats are still using some of the piers, numerous buildings remain half-finished, and no new land clearance has begun. Around the site, large concrete blocks remain scattered where they have sat for years. Similar blocks are usually used throughout the country to build up sea walls, although the walls around Tapchon Port appear to be well-fortified.

October 3 Dockyard

At the nearby October 3 Dockyard, home to KPA Navy Unit 597, many of the vessels on the repair way do not appear to have moved in the last two months.

The dockyard was almost completely rebuilt in 2015 after Kim visited and called for its modernization. The latest image reveals work on a new building near the entrance of the site has been completed, and a second adjacent building appears to be under construction.

KPA Navy Unit 155 Base

Just south, construction progress has occurred at the KPA Navy Unit 155 site.

The entire facility is being redeveloped with several new buildings. Satellite imagery from November 6 reveals roofs have been added to some buildings, and second floors are being added to others. Two new round buildings are under construction. The internal partitioning and unique design suggest they are likely to be headquarters or administrative buildings.

Additionally, the sea wall has been extended and appears set to snake around the edge of the bay.

It may be that the stepped-up efforts at KPA Navy Unit 155 are a prelude to the final phase of construction at Tapchon.