North Korea, being a proxy state for the Soviet Union, received large amounts of arms and ammunition, as well as technical expertise in starting their own firearms manufacturing plants. The North Korean AK variant came in the form of the Type 58 and Type 68 assault rifles and have since appeared all across the globe. The Type 58 follows the AK-47 platform and was developed secretly in two state-run facilities only known as Factory 61 and Factory 65. The Type 68 saw the conversion to the more modern Soviet AKM pattern and featured many of the same design choices.