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

Namp'o Nampo (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; ), also spelled Namp'o, is a major city in North Korea which is the country's fourth-largest by population. The city is an important seaport in the country as it lies on the northern shore of the T ...

, 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 borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

'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 product is the Chollima-804Ka tractor. 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 is the operating arm of the Ministry of Railways of North Korea (), commonly called the State Rail () and has its headquarters at Pyongyang, P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun-song. History 19 ...

via Kangsŏ Station on the

P'yŏngnam Line The P'yŏngnam Line is an electrified standard-gauge trunk line of the Korean State Railway in North Korea, linking P'yŏngyang with the port city of Namp'o and the hot springs at P'yŏngnam Onch'ŏn. The length of the line is .Kokubu, Hayato, ...

Four brother factories

According to North Korean media, along with Taean Heavy Machine Complex, Chollima Steel Complex and Taean Friendship Glass Factory, the factory is a member of the "four brother factories(네형제공장,Nehyongjegongjang)" and is reported to engage in "Socialist competitions" between the companies that are held every year in the country.

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 accompl ...

from a Soviet design, was built up in forty days. 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 A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

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 led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

and

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...

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, often at sites related to the military or to industry, at which the leader gives direc ...

; there is a large monument commemorating the first of Kim Il Sung's visits. On 26 July 1973, a large new expansion of the factory was opened, and it was renamed from Kiyang Tractor Factory to Kumsong Tractor Factory, with Kim Il Sung in attendance. The new factory featured automated machinery for both the ''Pungnyon'' bulldozer and the ''Chollima'' tractors. In 2017, the factory started producing the new 80-hp ''Ch'ŏllima 804'' tractor model.

References

{{reflist Manufacturing companies of North Korea Agriculture companies of North Korea