New North Korean Battletank

From the South Korean press:
Pyongyang Successfully Develops Top-notch Tank
by Lee Kyo-kwan (haedong@chosun.com)

It has been learned that North Korea succeeded in developing early this year a top-notch tank, the capabilities of which are nearly identical with those of the T-90 tank Russia developed in the early 1990s.

The tank was developed by Ryu Kyong-su Tank Factory, located in Shinhung, South Hamgyong Province, and the factory’s chief engineer, in recognition of his role in the tank’s development, has been promoted to a senior position in the Second Economic Committee, taking charge of the military economy, said North Korea watchers in the South. The tank’s performance tests were learned to have taken place near Pyongyang on February 16 in commemoration of Kim Jong Il’s 60th birthday, added the sources.

Given that Russian T-90, equipped with a 125mm gun, capable of firing anti-tank missiles, runs 45km to 65km per hour, a military expert observed, the latest North Korean tank should be of considerable capabilities. Also equipped with computer devices with which an object 700m away at night and 800m in daylight can be identified, infrared sights, and radar devices the T-90 is supposed to have powerful combat capability.

The designation of the latest North Korean tank has yet to be confirmed. Since the North named M-1985 the tank it developed in 1985, North Korea may designate the latest one as T-2002, a military expert speculated.

The North’s development of the top-notch tank was reportedly prompted by Kim Jong Il’s abortive attempt to get a T-90 donated when he visited a tank factory in Omsk, Russia on August 2 last year. Following his return home from Russia, Kim is said to have visited Ryu Kyong-su Tank Factory, which was engaged in the development of a latest type of tank similar in performance with T-90, to encourage its engineers. Less than half a year later, the factory managed to turn out the top-notch tank.

At present the North is learned to possess over 3,800 tanks of various types, including one it developed based on the Russian T-80, a sample of which it brought in from Afghanistan early in the ’90s, the most advanced type at that time. Among them are some 800 T-62s, 275 T-59, -55 and -54s, and 250 T-34s.

Ryu Kyong-su was a partisan who commanded the North’s first tank division during the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea has bestowed his name on a tank educational institute as well. His widow, Hwang Sun-hui, now serves as director of the Korea Revolutionary Museum.

(Saw the same article posted in Tanknet, the CDF, and Armstrade).