North Korea appears to have fully restored Sinuiju Airfield in North Pyongan Province as a military airbase, after previously using the facility as a quarantine site during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday, Beyond Parallel, a North Korea-focused project by the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), reported that the airfield was fully restored as of January, and a total of 34 aircraft, including Ilyushin IL-28 light bombers, have been redeployed there.
In February 2021, North Korea converted the airfield into a quarantine facility for imported goods from China as part of its pandemic response. At that time, IL-28 and H-5 light bombers stationed at Sinuiju, along with the aircraft and crew of the 24th Air Regiment, were relocated to other sites such as Sondok Airfield.
Following the conversion, the airfield was used for freight transshipment and quarantine, serving for three years as a disinfection hub for imports brought into North Korea via the Zhongchao Youyi Bridge connecting the country with China.
As COVID-19 subsided and North Korea-China trade volume surged beginning in 2023, the North appears to have found it necessary to restore the airfield to its original purpose.
Citing satellite imagery, the report stated that most of the warehouse structures and railway tracks at the airfield were dismantled by September 2023, and two weeks later, taxiways on the runway were repainted.
On October 4, 2024, five IL-28 and H-5 light bombers were deployed to the southeastern apron of the airfield. On January 8 of this year, a total of 34 IL-28 and H-5 aircraft operated by the 24th Air Regiment were confirmed to be distributed across various taxiways and aprons of the airfield.
The outlet further reported that, as of March 16, all quarantine-related facilities at Sinuiju Airfield had been removed, analyzing that North Korea is now transitioning away from pandemic-era protocols and returning to a state of combat readiness as part of its broader national defense strategy.