Today I devoted myself to observing and evaluating more carefully the main artillery turret of the destroyer.
From yesterday's poor-quality photo, I enlarged the 127 turret precisely to evaluate the part above the gun barrel. Initially, I thought it was a cylinder containing a brake to dampen recoil during firing, but I didn't seem to see a cylinder , so I went back to a previous photo and confirmed that there is currently no cylinder, but rather a semi-cylindrical shape open on one side.
To evaluate it better, I went to look at the Leonardo 127/64, and the Italian product is also very similar. You can see that at the bottom it has a kind of hatch with levers that seem to be used to open and close it. Then, looking at photos of the 126/64 being used during firing exercises, you can see the cartridge case ejected from there, i.e. from above the gun barrel, while on the previous 127/54 the cartridge case was ejected from below the barrel, more or less as on the 76/62 Compact. This leads me to believe that the North Korean 127 also uses the same system and is used to eject the cartridge case.
DPRK turret photo from yesterday
Photo of the same person a few months ago
Leonardo 127/64
During firing, ejection of the cartridge case from above
The progenitor Oro Melara 127/54 during firing exercises, ejecting cartridge cases from below
In summary, although it is still possible that the North Koreans started with access to an Oto Melara 127/54 to extrapolate this version, in light of the above, it is reasonable to believe that it is not just a matter of reverse engineering, but that they also had to make significant modifications, and the hypothesis that others here have whispered may have some basis, leading one to wonder how they managed to do so.
Furthermore, as can be seen from the small window next to the gun, it seems that the North Koreans have the option of having gunners in the turret, which is important if the automatic firing system has been damaged by enemy fire or has malfunctioned, as this means that even with greatly reduced capabilities, they can continue to fire. To do this, in addition to having gunners in the turret, it must be equipped with a manual mechanical system to supply ammunition from the storage compartment below, a system that may be similar to the one used on the Russian AK-176.