M-1978 Koksan
howitzer
M-1978 Koksan (Korean: M-1978 곡산), a name used by US military analysts, known by its makers as the Chuch'ep'o (Juche Cannon; 주체포), is a North Korean self-propelled 170 mm (6.7 in) gun based on the Type 59 tank chassis.
Some guns were exported to Middle Eastern countries in the late 1980s and used during the Iran–Iraq War. The M-1989 Koksan variant has seen use in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Development
According to former Janes editor, Christopher F Foss, the Koksan is based on a Chinese Type 59 tank chassis, while Mitzer and Oliemans note the possibility of being a Soviet T-54/T-55 tank chassis instead. The 170 mm gun is in an open mount with no superstructure and is stabilized when firing by two large folding spades at the rear. It also has a multislotted muzzle brake (but no fume extractor) and probably a power rammer. Elevation and traverse appear to be powered, although gun traverse is very limited to avoid overstressing the chassis. The gun has a range that would allow it to strike Seoul from the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The range appears to have determined the choice of caliber.
According to Foss, the 170 mm gun may be a Russian naval gun or coastal artillery system supplied to North Korea in the 1950s.
The public source identifies “M-1978 Koksan” as howitzer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around M-1978, Koksan and howitzer.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q486576. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1978 and 1989.
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This entry incorporates text from “M-1978 Koksan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.