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Overview
In 2020, Storm Maysak ravaged North Korea’s northeast provinces, devastating giant parts of the mineral-rich mining area of Komdok. Within the storm’s wake, Kim Jong Un directed a plan to rebuild Komdok and remodel it right into a “mannequin” mining neighborhood. Practically two years later, the flood-damaged street and railway networks have been restored, and over 2,000 new housing items have been constructed.
Regardless of these efforts, there may be little proof of precise plans to remodel Komdok to “mannequin” standing past the brand new housing. Even that may be a little bit of a façade, as pace has been emphasised over high quality, elevating issues about their survivability. With out substantive investments, resembling creating higher transport networks or enhancing power provision, the area will stay underperforming.
Exercise
Regardless of directions to remodel the Komdok mining area right into a mannequin mining neighborhood, to date efforts have been largely targeted on increasing housing and band-aid repairs from the 2020 typhoons. However the terrain and climate patterns of this area make even these efforts appear in useless with out larger funding in infrastructure, power provision and anti-flooding mitigation. With out such efforts, plans for the Komdok area seem little greater than empty guarantees.
Background
North Korea is a mineral-rich nation. Whereas coal and iron comprise the most important deposits, the nation is believed to have reserves of greater than 200 mineral varieties, together with zinc, gold, copper, magnetite, tungsten, graphite, and lead, in addition to non-metallic minerals, resembling magnesite and limestone. Estimates recommend that the nation’s mineral sources are price trillions of {dollars}.
The Komdok area is believed to carry the world’s second-largest deposits of magnesite and is wealthy in lead and zinc, and to a lesser extent, gold and silver, main some to name this space “Kumgol” (gold valley), “Tonsan” (mountain of cash), and “Paekgumsan” (white gold mountain). Positioned in South Hamgyong Province, roughly 40 kilometers north of the port metropolis of Tanchon and nestled inside the Puktae-chon Valley, dozens of mines are arrayed round three main mining complexes: Komdok (Kumdok)/Ryongyang, Taehung, and Tonsan.
Determine 1. Overview of Komdok Mining Area.
These complexes cowl a north-to-south distance of over 30 kilometers alongside the Puktae River and embody the Pukdu and Muhak department mines, the Taehung Youth Hero Mine, the Paekbawi Mine, the Kumgol Mine, the Komdok mines, the Ryongyang mines, the Tonsan Mine, and quite a lot of smaller mines.
Determine 2. Taehung Mining Space.
Determine 3. Komdok and Ryongyang Mining Areas.
Determine 4. Tonsan Mining Space.
Nevertheless, the area’s financial potential has largely gone unrealized for a number of causes, together with historic mismanagement of sources, outdated mining gear and practices, an arcane and insufficient infrastructure, and seasonal flooding, all of which have hampered manufacturing. Furthermore, North Korea’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons has caused heavy worldwide sanctions on the nation’s exports, limiting entry to international markets.
Whereas mining has continued, there was little proof of efforts to enhance the area’s infrastructure or to extend output over the previous decade, apart from post-flooding repairs and restoration.
In 2020, North Korea’s financial priorities appeared to shift. The borders had been closed to commerce and vacationers since January of that yr to assist forestall a serious COVID-19 outbreak contained in the nation. As such, efforts and sources that had been utilized towards the event of tourism and lightweight trade for export have been redirected to extra domestically targeted priorities and initiatives, such because the nonetheless unopened Pyongyang Basic Hospital and quite a few housing initiatives.
The Komdok area seems to be one of many beneficiaries of this shift. Kim Jong Un visited right here for the primary time in early September 2020, after Storm Maysak ripped by the area. He directed not solely its swift restoration however additional improvement right into a “mannequin” mining neighborhood.
In a sequence of speeches, he emphasised the significance of Komdok to North Korea’s strategic and financial targets, citing important merchandise current inside the area crucial to construct the nation’s infrastructure, meet its rising housing necessities, and supply dependable provides of meals. As such, holding these mines working was crucial.
Within the following weeks and months, repairs have been made to the roads and rail servicing the area, and new housing sprang up alongside the valley (see figures 15, 16, 17). Extra new housing initiatives have been additionally included as a part of the five-year financial plan launched on the Eighth Social gathering Congress in January 2021. However precise funding within the mines themselves and their supporting infrastructure resembling new roads or rail strains—efforts to really enhance Komdok—weren’t evident.
Overview of Main Mining Complexes
Concerning the Mines
There are principally two forms of mines within the area: open pit and underground. Open pit mines are floor mines. Sometimes, when an ore vein is situated close to the floor, tunnels will not be crucial and different floor minerals are merely scraped away and put aside in piles of spoil. The ore is often loaded onto vans and hauled to close by processing crops the place additional separation and refinement happens.
Underground mines are, in essence, tunnels bored into underground ore veins. The veins could be skinny or thick layers beneath the floor and are reached by both floor entrances or adits situated alongside mountainsides. Relying on the scale of the vein, it may be accessed in a couple of location, and if an ore layer is especially thick, tunnels can cross each other, and even go over or below one other. In areas resembling on a plateau, vertical shafts could also be used to offer entry to deeper goal ore layers. As soon as the layer is reached, tunneling commences.
Extracting ores from the mines could be by the usage of vans, ore automobiles on rails, conveyors, elevators, or a mixture of those. Whether or not a vein is accessed vertically or horizontally, just like the open pit mines, a processing plant is generally discovered close by. In mountainous terrain, such because the Komdok area, prolonged, lined conveyors are sometimes used to maneuver the ore to the processing crops or to a railyard for transport out of the area.
The Komdok Mines
North Korea has the capability to be one of many main producers of zinc on the planet. Zinc has a variety of makes use of. On the commercial aspect, it’s used to provoke different metals and create alloys resembling brass, nickel silver, and aluminum. On the industrial aspect, zinc oxide is utilized in a wide range of manufactured merchandise resembling batteries, prescribed drugs, plastics, and electrical gear, making it a helpful commodity.
One of many mines inside this complicated is situated in Kumgol-dong, 50 kilometers north of Tanchon, and has estimated zinc reserves of 266 million tons of ore. It has been in operation since 1932 and is believed to be the most important zinc mine in East Asia. It’s operated by the Korea Basic Zinc Trade Group, and extraction of zinc from uncooked ore is principally finished by a standard flotation technique carried out at Komdok’s Dressing Plant No. 2. This plant is instantly distinguished from different processing crops, by the big hillside flotation tanks, a crucial processing step for sure ores, and on this case, zinc.
Determine 5. Komdok Mining Advanced.
The Ryongyang and Taehung Mines
Magnesite is the principal ore extracted from the Ryongyang (determine 6) and Taehung mines. The Ryongyang Mine is the most important in North Korea and one of many largest on the planet and is situated at Kumgol’s southern edge. The Taehung Youth Hero Mine, situated to the north, acquired specific recognition in 2011 when Kim Jong Il visited and praised its miners for his or her herculean efforts in exceeding their annual quotas.
Magnesite is present in giant portions within the Tanchon space and has been extracted since 1980. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates the Ryongyang Mine to have a magnesite reserve of 600 metric tons and the Taehung Youth Hero Mine to have a reserve of 600 metric tons. Nevertheless, manufacturing declined sharply in 2017, with the imposition of harsher sanctions in response to North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons testing. No actual enhancements have been made to both the political local weather or bodily mining infrastructure since then that may change the manufacturing outlook for these two mines in a extra optimistic route.
Magnesite is mined in each underground (e.g., Ryongyang) and open pit (e.g., Pukdu Department Mine) mines (determine 7). A key product derived from magnesite is magnesia, an vital part in primary refractories, animal feed dietary supplements, fertilizer, insulation materials, cement, and several other environmental management procedures.
Determine 6. Ryongang Mines.
Determine 7. Pukdu Department Mine.
Structural Points for the Komdok Area
Flood Harm and Response
Flooding, generally, is a persistent drawback within the area. However when typhoons strike, devastating floods can happen, resembling what occurred in 2007, 2012, and 2020.
Understanding the severity of the area’s topography is important to understand how flooding impacts this space, however this may be tough to establish from two-dimensional satellite tv for pc imagery. At first look, what seems to be a community of shallow streams and rivers meandering by a mountain valley is definitely a riverine system that cuts deeply by excessive mountainous terrain. Having access to these mining valleys was a problem from the beginning.
The roads and rail line that service the world, by necessity, comply with the course of the river from the port metropolis of Tanchon to factors north of the Taehung mines. In a number of sections alongside the route, the roads and rail line hug the mountainsides, and pass-through tunnels have been constructed to shorten distances and scale back dramatic grade adjustments. Rail is the principal mode for shifting the extracted ore to market, and due to this fact, sustaining the rail line is important.
With its steep topography, this area just isn’t ideally suited for large-scale human habitation or the constructing of factories. With the intention to efficiently mine the world, discovering or creating stage floor to accommodate housing and processing crops has been crucial. Mostly used are the extensive, raised areas alongside dry river bends and the occasional gentler slopes discovered close to the river (determine 8). Adjoining mountain plateaus have additionally been used, however these areas are usually far faraway from transportation networks (determine 9).
All of those places include dangers, nonetheless. Seasonal rains generally increase water ranges and threaten amenities situated in low-lying areas. To guard towards rising water circumstances, concrete flood partitions have been constructed to assist channel the water, and spoil from the mines is strategically positioned to stabilize the riverbanks. However these measures, whereas efficient towards reasonable, seasonal rains, typically fall brief towards the extra excessive circumstances of typhoons.
Constructing on plateaus would thus appear preferable, however being additional faraway from the transportation community and dressing crops comes with a set of challenges. Entry to those elevated areas is confined to grime roads that wind up steep embankments and are sluggish to traverse and topic to washouts and landslides.
Determine 8. Examples of riverbed-based and plateau-based housing.
As well as, lots of the native mining practices have exacerbated the potential for flood-related injury. As an example, a lot of the pure vegetation within the space has been stripped away on account of the open pit mining discovered on the mountainsides alongside the river. Through the wet season, water runoff rapidly mounts and may trigger mudslides, which might injury buildings, roads, and rail segments.
One other concern entails three land reclamation efforts alongside the river south of Kumgol (instance in determine 10). There, the river has been redirected by tunnels, bypassing extensive river bends, leaving dry, stage parcels of land to construct upon. Whereas these tunnels have been designed to deal with regular water circulate, even through the wet seasons, imagery reveals that the torrents of water accompanying typhoons have overwhelmed them, as a dam-like impact is created, and flooding ensues within the areas above and adjoining to them. In different phrases, the positioning picks are disasters ready to occur.
Determine 9. Instance of land reclamation efforts.
Flood Harm and Restoration: 2012 vs. 2020
In 2012, on the finish of a very heavy wet season, North Korea was hit by Storm Bolaven. With wind speeds over 100 kilometers/hour, this triggered widespread flooding and injury all through the jap a part of the nation. In imagery from after the storm, wind injury gave the impression to be minimal when it comes to roof sections being misplaced. Housing closest to the river, in some circumstances, was washed away, however for essentially the most half, buildings remained intact (determine 11). This doesn’t account for the extent of water injury that was finished to the constructing interiors, which might require imagery from the highwater-mark interval to evaluate. Nevertheless, in a number of housing areas alongside the river, resembling one south of the Ryongyang Mine, quite a lot of single-story buildings have been ultimately razed and changed with multi-story buildings, presumably from intensive flood-related injury.
In 2020, North Korea was hit by back-to-back typhoons: Bavi and Maysak, wreaking havoc alongside the nation’s east coast and sparking the nation’s first-ever in a single day dwell reporting (determine 14). Within the Komdok area, the flood prevention measures put in place after the 2012 storm didn’t maintain as much as the sequence of stronger storms in 2020. Extra homes appeared to have been washed away accordingly, however the obvious “actual” injury was to their interiors. Once more, with out imagery taken through the highwater-mark interval, it’s tough to evaluate what number of and the way extensively properties have been impacted. Nevertheless, following Kim Jong Un’s go to in October 2020, considerably extra homes have been razed and new properties constructed than what was seen in 2012. Whereas broken bridges have been rapidly repaired, proof of washed-out roadbeds remained as bypasses have been created.
Following each storm intervals, intensive work to strengthen flood partitions and deposit spoil to construct up the riverbanks was noticed.
The federal government’s restore and restoration response inside the Komdok area following the 2012 storm was much like these following the 2020 storms, albeit not as pronounced in scope or scale. An exemplar is a housing space south of the Ryongyang Mine, the place flood-related injury was important, however the response was dramatically extra intensive in 2020.
Within the aftermath of Storm Bolaven in 2012, North Korean media reported efforts to assemble 1,000 new properties (determine 12), whereas 25,000 new properties have been promised following Storm Maysak (determine 13). In every occasion, the give attention to roads and railways was comparable, however the seen injury appeared much less widespread following the primary. It’s unclear whether or not the restore efforts in 2012 included mitigation efforts towards future extreme climate circumstances. If there was, it was insufficient for the pressure of Storm Maysak in 2020.
Determine 10. Ryongyang Housing South.
After Storm Maysak in 2020, Kim Jong Un visited Komdok to judge injury from the floods and set forth new initiatives for the area, a plan aimed to remodel the world into “the nation’s mannequin mountainous metropolis” subsequent to Samjiyon, and make the Komdok Mining space the “world’s No 1 mountainous gorge metropolis to be envied by all of the folks.”
He directed 25,000 new homes to be constructed within the Komdok Mining Advanced, Taehung Youth Hero Mine, and Ryongyang Mine areas all through the following five-year plan (5,000 homes per yr). He additionally ordered a survey to correctly design and rebuild the world to cut back flood threat sooner or later, stressing the necessity to dredge embankments, preserve timber and water, and construct concrete retaining partitions close to roads and railways to guard towards landslides and water injury.
Imagery from that post-flooding interval confirmed this exercise was, certainly, going down. Roadwork and bridge restore occurred nearly instantly (figures 15, 16), and new housing began in a number of areas alongside the Komdok river valley (determine 17). Some imagery revealed workcamps had been erected, and autos could possibly be seen alongside the river. However the greatest, most seen transformation was the pace at which new housing items went up.
Determine 11. Photograph of flood circumstances throughout Storm Maysak in 2020.
Determine 12. Put up-typhoon repairs to roads, floodwalls and infrastructure.
Is North Korea Severe About Reviving the Space?
It seems that most of Kim Jong Un’s directives for the area are being met. Throughout his preliminary go to to Komdok following Storm Maysak, he had set an October 10, 2020 deadline for the restore of roads, the rail line, and bridges, a promise which, for essentially the most half, was fulfilled. As well as, the flood partitions channeling the river have been repaired, and spoil from the mines was used to construct up the riverbanks. Nevertheless, whether or not these measures will stand up to a hurricane of an analogous magnitude sooner or later is questionable.
Whereas the Komdok area holds huge sources and incomes potential for the nation, the terrain and manner the area has been developed make flood prevention and storm injury an unavoidable actuality with out severe funding in engineering, infrastructure, and gear.
Imagery reveals that whereas essentially the most favorable actual property has been allotted to the mining infrastructure, housing and public amenities sit on unstable floor, making dwelling circumstances for employees lower than ideally suited, even with new properties.
New housing development continues at a outstanding tempo, however the pace at which these items have been constructed, notably these constructed proper after the hurricane, has come at the price of high quality. Unofficial media reviews have steered main structural points with the brand new properties. In a single occasion, residents complained that second-floor flats had no water, forcing them to attract water on the primary flooring. Different points reported embody inadequate furnishings and deep worries about how they’ll maintain as much as future storms.
Satellite tv for pc imagery seems to assist these issues. As an example, among the first housing complexes constructed after Storm Maysak have been rapidly inbuilt a reclaimed river bend (determine 17). Nevertheless, lower than a yr later, following the spring wet season, standing water was noticed within the streets, portending the danger of future flooding within the face of extreme storms (determine 18). Regardless of this, additional housing items proceed to be added to this space with no seen mitigation efforts being put in place.
Determine 13. New housing in Ryongyang Housing South.
One other instance is the brand new flats being constructed on slopes alongside the river. Beforehand, there have been single-story items constructed on this space, the place runoff furrows have been clearly seen (determine 19). Whereas a number of of the early items have been swept away throughout previous storms, mud lined a lot of the remaining items, suggesting water possible handed by them, making them uninhabitable. Erecting trendy, engaging residence complexes could also be visibly inspiring, however lots of the runoff furrows stay, and there don’t look like any efforts underway to redirect the water runoff away from the brand new housing complexes (determine 20). This implies they’re more likely to undergo the identical destiny because the predecessor items, albeit maybe with injury restricted to their first flooring.
Determine 14. Komdok Housing reconstruction efforts.
Modernization and Elevated Manufacturing?
Absent data offered by North Korean media concerning plant and mine modernization efforts and will increase in manufacturing, detecting such adjustments and even verifying the reporting by way of satellite tv for pc imagery is tough with out close to day by day assortment to trace motion and patterns of life. That is notably true for monitoring fleeting objects resembling rail rolling inventory and its cargo. Terrain adjustments at open pit mines brought on by blasting and excavation of recent pits could be delicate and not using a main effort being undertaken. Upgrades to processing crops and different factories are usually longer-term in nature, however adjustments to constructing exteriors are merely an indicator of change, they don’t essentially present clues as to what adjustments or upgrades is perhaps occurring inside. Even assessing flood injury is proscribed to a construction’s exterior, because the standing of its contents can’t be seen. When a constructing is left largely intact following a storm, figuring out its operational standing is finally left to exterior signatures resembling smoke emissions and/or merchandise being staged outdoors.
The Ryongyang Mine is an exemplar of the gradual change seen on the mining complexes in Komdok. Imagery taken in 2010 reveals the mine and processing plant below growth, with new, lined conveyors in place to maneuver ore (determine 15).
Determine 15. Ryonyang Mine in 2010 with lined conveyor.
Imagery from after the 2012 hurricane reveals that almost all of its mining amenities had been accomplished; nonetheless, the decrease part of the conveyor, which crossed the river, had been washed away in dramatic fashion (determine 22). Whereas repairs to the floodwalls have been ongoing in April 2018, with reinforcements made after Storm Maysak, no makes an attempt to restore the conveyor could possibly be detected. The truth is, imagery taken in 2018 revealed that your entire conveyor system had been eliminated (determine 23). It seems a brand new tunnel adit had been opened adjoining to dressing amenities to entry the mines. What just isn’t clear is whether or not the brand new tunnel entrance is accessing the identical magnesite vein or whether or not the earlier tunnel entrance, serviced by the conveyor, was to a separate vein, which has been close to mined out, and the injury brought on by the 2012 hurricane hastened the change. On the identical time, different conveyors servicing different mines within the Komdok area, such because the Tonsan Mine, have additionally been eliminated. This may occasionally sign a change in mining apply, though conveyors are nonetheless current on the Kumgol Mine.
Following Storm Maysak in 2020, imagery confirmed further enhancements to the flood partitions have been being made, and new spoil piles had been deposited alongside the riverbank in an effort to shore it up (determine 24). Given its comparatively excessive location above the river, and regardless of the erosion of the riverbank, no seen injury to the mining amenities themselves was detected, save for the conveyor. With its elimination and a brand new tunnel entrance, there had clearly been adjustments in mining operations, however the precise nature of these adjustments is unclear. Curiously, nonetheless, lined conveyors have been faraway from a number of mining places round 2018. So, maybe new practices have been being adopted throughout the area.
Determine 16. Enchancment and modernization efforts to the Ryongyang Mine and Processing Plant from 2012-2022.
As for the opposite mining complexes following Storm Maysak, a lot of the repairs seen in and across the mines haven’t been instantly associated to the mines, however fairly towards the reinforcement of the river embankments and restoration of roads, bridges, and rail. Minor development has appeared on the Taehung processing plant and the Tonsan Mine, though none that may recommend modernization. In Kumgol, two of the extra notable adjustments embody the addition of a employees’ village adjoining to Komdok Mine No. 3, and 5 floatation tanks have been refurbished on the dressing plant, seen on imagery from March 2022. Furthermore, the lined conveyor was eliminated. Rolling inventory has returned to the railyard at Kumgol, confirming that it’s nonetheless operational, however further imagery could be wanted to find out the affect on manufacturing (determine 17).
Determine 17. Rail rolling inventory noticed on the Komdok Mining Advanced and refurbished flotation tanks on the dressing plant point out ongoing operations.
An inadequate provide {of electrical} energy has plagued North Korea for years, and the Komdok area is not any exception. Insufficient power sourcing has been a perennial drawback, limiting the world’s manufacturing, and claims of recent processing methods being applied, lowering power wants by half, can’t be substantiated. Whereas adjustments to the power infrastructure could be a key indicator of a dedication to extend operational capability and enhance the standard of lifetime of the miners and their households, imagery taken over the past decade reveals few developments on this space. No new substations or energy crops have been added, though some upgrades to current substations could have occurred however weren’t detected as a consequence of restricted imagery protection.
In an effort to enhance power provision to the northeast provinces, new hydroelectric energy stations are progressively being added to its grid; amongst these are three energy stations on the Namdae River. It’s unclear whether or not any of those new stations have change into operational or whether or not they’ll present further capability to the Komdok mining neighborhood wants, however energy strains do join their location with a big substation south of Kumgol.[1]
Trying Forward
If North Korea is severe about reviving the mountainous and flood-prone Komdok mining area, it might want to spend money on extra than simply expanded employee housing and band-aid repairs. As an example, hardening or paving the grime roads would assist enhance entry to the extra distant areas. Constructing new rail strains to further ports and distribution hubs, resembling Nampo Port or Namyong, to facilitate land-based exports to China would assist broader distribution if and when prospects for exports improved. Nevertheless, to truly enhance manufacturing on this area and maximize its potential, constant power provision and the infusion of recent and extra trendy gear and strategies are badly wanted. Constructing this infrastructure, nonetheless, just isn’t a turnkey course of however fairly a long-term endeavor. Furthermore, planning for and implementing sound flood-prevention measures and protocols for this difficult terrain is important to really remodel Komdok right into a “mannequin” mining neighborhood and understand its huge financial potential.
Issues To Watch
- Will bigger flood partitions be constructed alongside the river to forestall flooding?
- Will further new housing be situated in safer places and supplied with a transportation infrastructure crucial for the employees who dwell in them?
- Will efforts be made to stabilize the panorama bordering the street and rail community to forestall or scale back washouts?
- Will the variety of processing crops enhance, and/or will current crops be expanded?
- Will the variety of electrical energy substations enhance, and/or will the prevailing ones be expanded?
- Will we see an growth of the port on the metropolis of Tanchon to facilitate exports?
Information Sources
kml Komdok Mining Space Annotations
shp Komdok Mining Space Annotations
The Stimson Middle and the Nationwide Geospatial-Intelligence Company partnership makes use of unclassified imagery and knowledge to provide new, well timed, and correct reporting on the North Korean financial system. For more information, learn the Tearline Mission Explainer.
To learn extra, go to NGA’s Tearline article or obtain the Tearline app from the Apple Retailer or Google Play.
This content material additionally syndicates to the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence’s web site intelligence.gov, which is a transparency effort to higher clarify sure strategic and humanitarian IC missions to the general public.
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