North Korea’s snow-covered military runways reveal air force weaknesses

The snowstorms that batter the Korean Peninsula each winter are more than just a seasonal occurrence—they can also expose the weaknesses of North Korea’s military infrastructure.

A detailed analysis of satellite images (with 10-meter resolution) captured by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B satellites between late 2025 and early 2026 reveals that runways at 12 of North Korea’s 21 military airports and airfields (57.1%) remained blanketed in heavy snow.

This failure to clear military runways appears to reflect more than simple maintenance neglect. Rather, it points to the practical limitations of North Korea’s air power.

In other words, North Korea’s decision not to clear snow from military airport runways suggests that their maintenance is not a regime priority.

Limited resources make even routine tasks challenging, let alone acquiring fuel and heavy equipment. Consequently, basic snow-clearing equipment has apparently been deprioritized.

This stands in stark contrast to South Korean airports, which are equipped with advanced runway heating systems and automated snow-clearing technology to ensure year-round operations.

Satellite images show runways at Sunan International Airport and Hyesan Airfield in Ryanggang province buried under snow following winter storms. The runways are difficult to distinguish, their outlines nearly obscured by accumulated snow. These images, taken after heavy snowfall during a cold snap, suggest that the equipment needed to clear military runways was not readily available.

At Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, the runway at the civilian airport in the southern section had been largely cleared after the heavy snow, but the four-kilometer runway at the military airport in the northern section remained snow-covered. At the airfield in Hyesan, Ryanggang province, a 1.3-kilometer runway was so deeply buried that it was nearly invisible.

In short, these satellite images indicate that runways at North Korean military airports are not being cleared of snow, unlike runways at international airports designated for civilian use.

This should be understood as more than maintenance negligence. Rather, it appears to reflect the North Korean Air Force’s pragmatic assessment that investing resources and manpower in runway maintenance makes little sense given the fuel shortage that limits flight operations and training.

After snow fell on Kusong, a city in North Pyongan province, the runway at Panghyon Airport—the presumed operational hub for that air force facility—was clearly neglected, with no apparent attempt to address the winter storm’s impact.

Following heavy precipitation, the runway remained under so much snow that its boundaries were unclear in the imagery. Such conditions would presumably severely hamper the ability of combat aircraft to take off or land.

After a snowstorm, a 2.5-kilometer stretch of the civilian-military joint-use runway at Uiju Airfield remained snow-covered. Images captured by the Sentinel-2A satellite on the first day of 2026 show the entire runway blanketed in snow.

A snow-covered runway is an unfamiliar sight for South Koreans, who expect runways to be cleared immediately to ensure continuous aircraft operations.

But North Korean military airports are understaffed and lack adequate snow-clearing equipment. Additionally, fighter jets rarely fly. These are the likely reasons runway snow-clearing is not considered a priority.

In satellite images of Sohung Airport in North Hwanghae province and Unchon Airport in South Hwanghae province taken last December, the runways at both airports appear white with snow after heavy precipitation. The runways (measuring 850 and 800 meters respectively) are barely visible in the images. Fighter jets would presumably have great difficulty taking off or landing in such harsh winter conditions.

Assessing North Korea’s snow-covered military runways

Our review of imagery from the Sentinel satellite series found that runways at 12 of 21 military airports and airfields in North Korea—57.1%—had not been cleared of snow after severe winter storms struck the country, leaving layers of ice and snow.

Rather than simply representing worker negligence in snow-clearing duties, this appears to indicate a fundamental problem: even routine maintenance is not being properly performed at military airports.

According to a source inside North Korea, airport maintenance and repairs are performed not by regular soldiers but by schoolchildren, who are regularly mobilized for mandatory weeding and snow-clearing duties depending on the season. This reliance on non-military workers exemplifies North Korea’s shortage of trained personnel and the limitations of its maintenance capabilities.

In summary, the lack of timely snow-clearing at North Korea’s military airports illustrates not only the deprioritization of runway maintenance and shortages of resources like fuel and snow-clearing equipment, but also a widespread labor shortage that necessitates mobilizing schoolchildren.