SEOUL, August 22 (AJP) - A report in the Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper based in Japan, claims that North Korea's Jindallae Mobile Phone Factory is capable of producing hundreds of thousands of smartphones annually.
The factory, located in Pyongyang's Mangyongdae district, was reportedly established in March 2018 and has a total floor area of 6,087 square meters.
The report, published Aug. 20, highlights the facility’s output of dozens of types of smart and feature phones, beginning with the domestically designed Jindallae 3 model.
North Korean officials described the factory’s precision and productivity as being "very high level," with claims of maintaining Class 10 dust-free conditions for the assembly of LCD touchscreens.
The production lines are said to be integrated, covering everything from LCD manufacturing and mainboard assembly to packaging and quality inspection. The factory's production capacity, according to the North Korean e-commerce site Manmulsang, is in the hundreds of thousands of units per year.
Despite Pyongyang’s assertions, experts are skeptical about the country's claims of independent smartphone design and production.
A 2024 report by Martin Williams of the Crimson Center think tank, published in 38 North, suggested that all smartphones sold in North Korea are manufactured by Chinese companies under original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreements.
The report details how Chinese firms handle the basic design and production based on North Korean specifications.
The finished products are then branded with North Korean names, suggesting that the country’s domestic production claims are likely exaggerated. North Korea, the report concludes, appears to function more as an assembly and rebranding operation than a full-scale independent manufacturer.
reporter
Candice Kim
candicekim1121@ajupress.com
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