The Kŭmsŏng Tractor Factory, located in Kiyang-dong, Kangsŏ-guyŏk,

Namp'o Nampo (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; ), also spelled Namp'o, is the second largest city by population and an important seaport in North Korea, which lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15 km east of the river's mouth. ...

, is

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

's largest manufacturer of tractors, bulldozers, and other agricultural equipment. Employing around 10,000 workers, the factory has a floor area of on a total area of . Peak production capacity is 10,000 tractors per year. The factory's current products include the ''Ch'ŏllima 28'' , ''Ch'ŏllima 32'' , ''Ch'ŏllima 40'' , ''P'ungnyŏn 75'' , ''Sonyŏn'' and ''Ch'ŏllima 2000'' tractors, and the ''P'ungnyŏn'' bulldozer. As of 2017, the factory was producing the new 80-hp ''Ch'ŏllima 804'' tractor model. Claims have been made this factory also produces TEL mobile missile platforms. The facility is served by the

Korean State Railway The Korean State Railway (), commonly called the State Rail () is the operating arm of the Ministry of Railways of North Korea and has its headquarters at P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun Song. History 1945–195 ...

via Kangsŏ Station on the P'yŏngnam Line.

History

The plant was opened in 1954, rebuilt from the ruins of a chemical fertiliser plant destroyed during the Korean War, producing various agricultural implements. The first tractor, the Ch'ŏllima 28'', entered production in 1958. The prototype of this tractor, which was

reverse engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...

from a Soviet design, was built up in forty days, but only ran in reverse gear. Production capacity was expanded significantly in the following years; between 1970 and 1978, output increased 8.7 times, and by 1979, only 30% of production was of the 28-horsepower model, with the other 70% being accounted for by the 75-hp ''P'ungnyŏn'' model. Automation is also extensive; for example, the process of making the

gearbox Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...

and the engine blocks are each overseen by a single person. Both

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

and

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...

visited the factory numerous times to offer

on-the-spot guidance "On-the-spot guidance" (also "guidance tours" or "field guidance") is a term used in the North Korean mass media to describe appearances by the supreme leader of North Korea, often at sites related to the military or to industry, at which the lea ...

; there is a large monument commemorating the first of Kim Il-sung's visits.

References

{{reflist Companies of North Korea Agriculture companies of North Korea