North Korea’s new missile museum: part shrine, part arms bazaar

Analysts say the museum was built to woo foreign buyers, burnish national pride and bury disarmament talks for good

Park Chan-kyong in Seoul

Published: 4:27pm, 13 Oct 2026

North Korea now has a museum for its bombs. The National Defence Revolution Museum, which opened on Sunday, is the country’s first dedicated exclusively to military hardware, from rifles to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Observers say it is also intended to send a message to Washington and Seoul, serve as a permanent showroom for the North’s arms exports and visibly enshrine its nuclear programme as an irreversible part of state policy.

Third-generation ruler Kim Jong-un cut the ribbon to open the museum, then toured the exhibits with his wife Ri Sol-ju and his daughter Kim Ju-ae by his side.

He called the museum an “immortal” repository of the country’s arms development and one of its “national treasures”.