With the development of mining operations in the northern part of Korea, traffic volumes increased significantly, and Sentetsu found a need for a locomotive with strong pulling power suitable for use on mountainous lines with sharp curves and steep slopes.

The resulting Matei class locomotives became a mainstay on long-distance freight trains on mountainous lines.

[2] The six locomotives of both classes that remain unaccounted for were likely either destroyed during the Pacific War or were possibly taken by Soviet Army, which during its occupation of North Korea took a large number of locomotives back to the USSR.

Around eleven Matei class locomotives went to the north, where they were initially designated 마더하 class (Madŏha) by Kukch'ŏl; later, around the 1970s, they were renumbered in the 7100 series, retaining their original running number but replacing the "마더하" with a "7".

On 31 December 1950, a passenger train operated by Kukch'ŏl, consisting of マテイ10 - still wearing Sentetsu number plates - and 25 cars, running on the former Kyŏngŭi Line from Hanp'o to Munsan, was ordered to stop at Changdan by the US Army and was destroyed.