The Korean People's Army constitutes the military force of North Korea and, under the Songun .... North Korea sells missiles and military equipment to many countries worldwide. In April 2009, the United Nations named the Korea Mining and ...
Manpower
|
|---|
| Conscription |
17 years of age |
Available for
military service |
6,515,279 males, age 15-29 (2010),
6,418,693 females, age 15-29 (2010) |
Fit for
military service |
4,836,567 males, age 15-29 (2010),
5,230,137 females, age 15-29 (2010) |
Reaching military
age annually |
207,737 males (2010),
204,553 females (2010) |
| Active personnel |
1,190,000 (2012) (ranked 5th)[1] |
| Reserve personnel |
600,000 reserves (2012)
5,889,000 paramilitary (2012) (ranked 1st) |
| Expenditures |
| Budget |
~$10 billion[2] |
| Percent of GDP |
~25%[3][4] |
| Industry |
| Domestic suppliers |
|
| Annual exports |
$100 million[5] |
| Related articles |
| History |
Korean War
Korean DMZ Conflict
Vietnam War
Yom Kippur War
Syrian Civil War |
| Ranks |
Comparative military ranks of Korea |
Korean People's Army
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Korean People's Army
|
|
Emblem of the Korean People's Army.
|
| Founded |
25 April 1932 (claimed)
8 February 1947 (current form) |
| Service branches |
|
| Headquarters |
Pyongyang, North Korea |
| Leadership |
|
|
Marshal Kim Jong-un |
|
|
General Ri Yong-gil |
|
|
Vice Marshal Ri Myong-su |
| Manpower |
| Conscription |
17 years of age |
Available for
military service |
6,515,279 males, age 15-29 (2010),
6,418,693 females, age 15-29 (2010) |
Fit for
military service |
4,836,567 males, age 15-29 (2010),
5,230,137 females, age 15-29 (2010) |
Reaching military
age annually |
207,737 males (2010),
204,553 females (2010) |
| Active personnel |
1,190,000 (2012) (ranked 5th)[1] |
| Reserve personnel |
600,000 reserves (2012)
5,889,000 paramilitary (2012) (ranked 1st) |
| Expenditures |
| Budget |
~$10 billion[2] |
| Percent of GDP |
~25%[3][4] |
| Industry |
| Domestic suppliers |
|
| Annual exports |
$100 million[5] |
| Related articles |
| History |
Korean War
Korean DMZ Conflict
Vietnam War
Yom Kippur War
Syrian Civil War |
| Ranks |
Comparative military ranks of Korea |
The
Korean People's Army (
KPA;
Chosŏn'gŭl:
조선인민군;
Chosŏn inmin'gun) constitutes the military force of
North Korea and, under the
Songun policy, the central institution of North Korean society.
Kim Jong-un is the
Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and Chairman of the
Central Military Commission. The KPA defence force consists of five branches:
Ground Force, the
Navy, the
Air Force, the
Strategic Rocket Forces, and the
Special Operation Force. The
Worker-Peasant Red Guards also come under control of the KPA.
The KPA faces its primary adversaries, the
Republic of Korea Armed Forces and
United States Forces Korea, across the
Korean Demilitarized Zone, as it has since the
Armistice Agreement of July 1953. As of 2016, with 5,889,000
paramilitary personnel, it is the
largest paramilitary organization on Earth. This number represents 25% of the population.
[6][7]
History
North Korea officially dates the foundation of the KPA back to the establishment of
Kim Il-sung's
anti-Japanese guerrilla army. In 1978, "Military Foundation Day" was
changed from 8 February to 25 April, the nominal day of establishment of
this army in 1932.
[8]
In 1939, the Korean Volunteer Army (KVA), was formed in
Yan'an, China. The two individuals responsible for the army were
Kim Tu-bong
and Mu Chong. At the same time, a school was established near Yan'an
for training military and political leaders for a future independent
Korea. By 1945, the KVA had grown to approximately 1,000 men, mostly
Korean deserters from the
Imperial Japanese Army.
During this period, the KVA fought alongside the Chinese communist
forces from which it drew its arms and ammunition. After the defeat of
the Japanese, the KVA accompanied the Chinese communist forces into
eastern
Jilin, intending to gain recruits from ethnic
Koreans in China, particularly from
Yanbian, and then enter Korea.
[9] By September 1945, the KVA had a 2,500 strong force at its disposal.
[citation needed]
Just after
World War II and during the Soviet Union's occupation of the part of Korea north of the 38th Parallel, the Soviet
25th Army
headquarters in Pyongyang issued a statement ordering all armed
resistance groups in the northern part of the peninsula to disband on 12
October 1945. Two thousand Koreans with previous experience in the
Soviet army were sent to various locations around the country to
organize
constabulary forces with permission from Soviet military headquarters, and the force was created on 21 October 1945.
[10]
The headquarters felt a need for a separate unit for security around
railways, and the formation of the unit was announced on 11 January
1946. That unit was activated on 15 August of the same year to supervise
existing security forces and creation of the national armed forces.
[10]
Military institutes such as the Pyongyang Academy (became No. 2 KPA
Officers School in Jan. 1949) and the Central Constabulary Academy
(became KPA Military Academy in Dec. 1948) soon followed for education
of political and military officers for the new armed forces.
After the military was organized and facilities to educate its new
recruits were constructed, the Constabulary Discipline Corps was
reorganized into the Korean People's Army General Headquarters. The
previously semi-official units became military regulars with
distribution of Soviet uniforms, badges, and weapons that followed the
inception of the headquarters.
[10]
The State Security Department, a forerunner to the Ministry of
People's Defense, was created as part of the Interim People's Committee
on 4 February 1948. The formal creation of the Korean People's Army was
announced on four days later on 8 February, the day after the Fourth
Plenary Session of the People’s Assembly approved the plan to separate
the roles of the military and those of the police,
[11]
seven months before the government of the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea was proclaimed on 9 September 1948. In addition, the Ministry
of State for the People's Armed Forces was established, which controlled
a central guard battalion, two divisions, and an independent mixed and
combined arms brigade.
[10]
Conflicts and events
A monument in Pyongyang, depicting North Korean airmen and a
MiG fighter.
Before the outbreak of the Korean War,
Joseph Stalin
equipped the KPA with modern tanks, trucks, artillery, and small arms
(at the time, the South Korean Army had nothing remotely comparable
either in numbers of troops or equipment). During the opening phases of
the
Korean War in 1950, the KPA quickly drove South Korean forces south and captured
Seoul, only to lose 70,000 of their 100,000-strong army in the autumn after U.S. amphibious landings at the
Battle of Incheon and a subsequent drive to the
Yalu River.
On 4 November, China openly staged a military intervention. On 7
December, Kim Il-sung was deprived of the right of command of KPA by
China.
[12]
The KPA subsequently played a secondary minor role to Chinese forces in
the remainder of the conflict. By the time of the Armistice in 1953,
the KPA had sustained 290,000 casualties and lost 90,000 men as POWs.
In 1953, the
Military Armistice Commission (MAC) was able to oversee and enforce the terms of the armistice. The
Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC), originally made up of delegations from
Poland,
Czechoslovakia and
Hungary on the Communist side, and
Sweden and
Switzerland on the
United Nations side, monitored the activities of the MAC.
Soviet thinking on the strategic scale was replaced since December 1962 with a
people's war concept. The Soviet idea of direct warfare was replaced with a Maoist
war of attrition
strategy. Along with the mechanization of some infantry units, more
emphasis was put on light weapons, high-angle indirect fire, night
fighting, and sea denial.
[13]
Organization
North Korean soldier, 2005.
Commission and leadership
The primary path for command and control of the KPA extends through the
State Affairs Commission which was led by its chairman
Kim Jong-il until 2011, to the
Ministry of People's Armed Forces and its General Staff Department.
[14]
From there on, command and control flows to the various bureaus and
operational units. A secondary path, to ensure political control of the
military establishment, extends through the
Workers' Party of Korea's
Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea.
Since 1990, numerous and dramatic transformations within the DPRK
have led to the current command and control structure. The details of
the majority of these changes are simply unknown to the world. What
little is known indicates that many changes were the natural result of
the deaths of the aging leadership including
Kim Il-sung (July 1994), Minister of People's Armed Forces
O Chin-u (February 1995) and Minister of People's Armed Forces
Choi Kwang (February 1997).
The vast majority of changes were undertaken to secure the power and position of
Kim Jong-il. Formerly the State Affairs Commission, from its founding in 1972 (originally the
National Defence Commission),
was part of the Central People's Committee while the Ministry of the
People's Armed Forces, from 1982 onward, was under direct presidential
control. At the Eighteenth session of the sixth Central People's
Committee, held on 23 May 1990, the SAC became established as its own
independent commission, rising to the same status as the CPC (now the
Cabinet of North Korea) and not subordinated to it, as was the case before. Concurrent with this,
Kim Jong-il
was appointed first vice-chairman of the State Affairs Commission. The
following year, on 24 December 1991, Kim Jong-il was appointed
Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army.
Four months later, on 20 April 1992, Kim Jong-il was awarded the rank
of Marshal and his father, in virtue of being the KPA's founding
commander in chief, became Grand Marshal as a result and one year later
he became the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, by now under
Supreme People's Assembly control under the then 1992 constitution as
amended.
Almost all officers of the KPA have begun their military careers as
privates; only very few people are admitted to a military academy
without prior service. The results is an egalitarian military system
where officers are familiar with the life of a military private and
"military nobility" is all but nonexistent.
[15]
Within the KPA, between December 1991 and December 1995, nearly 800
high officers (out of approximately 1,200) received promotions and
preferential assignments. Three days after Kim Jong-il became Marshal,
eight generals were appointed to the rank of Vice-Marshal. In April
1997, on the 85th anniversary of
Kim Il-sung's birthday,
Kim Jong-il promoted 127 general and admiral grade officers. The
following April he ordered the promotions of another 22 generals and
flag officers. Along with these changes many KPA officers were appointed
to influential positions within the Korean Workers' Party. These
promotions continue today, simultaneous with the celebration of Kim
Il-sung's birthday and the KPA anniversary celebrations every April and
since recently in July to honor the end of the Korean War. Under Kim
Jong-il's leadership, political officers dispatched from the party
monitored every move of a general’s daily life, according to analysts
[16] similar to the work of Soviet
political commissars during the early and middle years of the military establishment.
Today the KPA exercises full control of both the Politburo and the
Central Military Commission of the WPK, the KPA General Political and
General Staff Departments and the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces,
all having KPA representatives with a minimum general officer rank.
Following changes made during the 4th session of the 13th Supreme
People’s Assembly on 29 June, 2016, the State Affairs Commission has
overseen the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces as part of its
systemic responsibilities. All members of the State Affairs Commission
have membership status (regular or alternate) on the WPK Political
Bureau.
Conscription and terms of service
Korean People's Army soldiers
North Korea has universal
conscription for males and selective conscription for females with many pre- and post-service requirements.
[citation needed] Article 86 of the
North Korean Constitution
states: "National defence is the supreme duty and honour of citizens.
Citizens shall defend the country and serve in the armed forces as
required by law."
[17]
KPA soldiers serve a minimum of 10 years of military service in the
KPA, which also runs its own factories, farms and trading arms.
[16]
Paramilitary organizations
The
Young Red Guards are the youth cadet corps of the KPA for secondary
level and university level students. Every Saturday, they hold mandatory
4-hour military training drills, and have training activities on and
off campus to prepare them for military service when they turn 18 or
after graduation, as well as for contingency measures in peacetime.
The Memorial of Soldiers at the Mansudae Grand Monument
Under the
Ministry of People's Security and the wartime control of the
Ministry of People's Armed Forces, and formerly the Korean People's Security Forces, the
Korean People's Internal Security Forces
forms the national gendarmerie and civil defense force of the KPA. The
KPISF has its units in various fields like civil defense, traffic
management, civil disturbance control, and local security. It has its
own special forces units. The service shares the ranks of the KPA (with
the exception of Marshals) but wears different uniforms.
Budget and commercial interests
The KPA's annual budget is approximately US$6 billion. The U.S.
Institute for Science and International Security reports that the DPRK may possess
fissile material for around two to nine
nuclear warheads.
[18] The North Korean
Songun ("Military First") policy elevates the KPA to the primary position in the government and society.
Korean People's Army vehicles on parade
According to
North Korea's state news agency, military expenditures for 2010 made up 15.8 percent of the state budget.
[19]
Most analyses of North Korea’s defense sector, however, estimate that
defense spending constitutes between one-quarter and one-third of all
government spending. As of 2003, according to the International
Institute of Strategic Studies, North Korea’s defense budget consumed
some 25 percent of central government spending.
[20]
In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, according to figures released by the
Polish Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, between 32 and 38 percent of
central government expenditures went towards defense.
[21]
North Korea sells missiles and military equipment to many countries worldwide.
[22] In April 2009, the United Nations named the
Korea Mining and Development Trading Corporation
(KOMID) as North Korea's primary arms dealer and main exporter of
equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons. It
also named
Korea Ryonbong as a supporter of North Korea's military related sales.
[23]
Historically, North Korea has assisted a vast number of
revolutionary, insurgent and terrorist groups in more than 62 countries.
A cumulative total of more than 5,000 foreign personnel have been
trained in North Korea, and over 7,000 military advisers, primarily from
the
Reconnaissance Bureau, have been dispatched to some forty-seven countries. Some of the organisations which received North Korean aid include the
Polisario Front,
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, the
Communist Party of Thailand, the
Palestine Liberation Organization and the
Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. The
Zimbabwean Fifth Brigade received its initial training from KPA instructors.
[24] North Korean troops allegedly saw combat during the
Libyan–Egyptian War and the
Angolan Civil War.
[25] Up to 200 KPAF pilots took part in the
Vietnam War,
[26] scoring several kills against US aircraft.
[27][28][29] Two KPA anti-aircraft artillery regiments were sent to
North Vietnam as well.
[30]
North Korean instructors trained
Hezbollah fighters in
guerrilla warfare tactics around 2004, prior to the
Second Lebanon War.
[31] During the
Syrian Civil War, Arabic-speaking KPA officers may have assisted the
Syrian Arab Army in military operations planning and have supervised artillery bombardments in the
Aleppo area.
[32]
Service branches
People's Ground Force
Koksan, one of North Korea's principal heavy artillery pieces. This example was captured in Iraq.
DPRK soldiers standing at the
JSA between the blue buildings.
The Korean People's Army Ground Force (KPAGF) is the main branch of
the Korean People's Army responsible for land-based military operations.
It is the
de facto army of
North Korea.
People's Navy
The Korean People's Navy is organized into two fleets which are not
able to support each other. The East Fleet is headquartered at
T'oejo-dong and the West Fleet at
Nampho.
A number of training, shipbuilding and maintenance units and a naval
air wing report directly to Naval Command Headquarters at
Pyongyang.
[33]
The majority of the navy's ships are assigned to the East Fleet. Due to
the short range of most ships, the two fleets are not known to have
ever conducted joint operations or shared vessels.
[34]
People's Army Air Force and Air Defence Forces
A former Indonesian
Lim-5 on display in the United States in North Korean markings
The KPAF is also responsible for North Korea's air defence forces
through the use of anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air (SAM)
missiles. While much of the equipment is outdated, the high saturation
of multilayered, overlapping, mutually supporting air defence sites
provides a formidable challenge to enemy air attacks.
[35]
People's Strategic Rocket Forces
The Korean People's Strategic Rocket Forces is a major division of
the KPA that controls the DPRK's nuclear and conventional strategic
missiles. It is mainly equipped with
surface-to-surface missiles of
Soviet and
Chinese design, as well as locally developed long-range missiles.
Missile tests
- 1993
- 1998
- 2006
- 2009
- 2013
Missiles
- Taepodong-1
- Taepodong-2
Worker-Peasant Red Guard Militia
The Red Guards (1997 complement 3.5 million) is the DPRK equivalent
of an ROTC/Home Guard/National Guard/Territorial Army. As a part of the
Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, its service flag enjoys the same
status as that of the other services. With units organized from
University level down to the village level made of part-time national
servicemen and women from all walks of life, it provides the Korean
People's Army with a ready-available pool of trained reinforcements
during both peacetime and wartime deployments. As part of its
responsibilities as a national militia, the WPRG also reports to the
Workers' Party of Korea's Military Affairs Department (until 2010 it
reported also to the Civil Defense Department).
Capabilities
Semi-submersible infiltration craft used by North Korean Special Forces
[citation needed]
After the Korean War the North Korea maintained a powerful, but
smaller than South Korean, military force. In 1967 the KPA forces of
about 345,000 were much smaller than the South Korean ground forces of
about 535,000.
[36]
North Korea's relative isolation and economic plight starting from the
1980s has now tipped the balance of military power into the hands of the
better-equipped South Korean military.
[22] In response to this predicament, North Korea relies on
asymmetric warfare techniques and unconventional weaponry to achieve parity against high-tech enemy forces.
[22] North Korea is reported to have developed a wide range of technologies towards this end, such as
stealth paint to conceal ground targets,
[37] midget submarines and
human torpedoes,
[38] blinding laser weapons,
[39] and probably has a
chemical weapons program and is likely to possess a stockpile of chemical weapons.
[40] The Korean People's Army operates
ZM-87 anti-personnel lasers, which are banned under the
United Nations Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons.
[39]
Since the 1980s, North Korea has also been actively developing its own
cyber warfare capabilities. As of 2014, the secretive
Bureau 121
- the elite North Korean cyber warfare unit - comprises approximately
1,800 highly trained hackers. In December 2014, the Bureau was accused
of hacking Sony and making threats, leading to the cancellation of The
Interview, a comedy based on the assassination of Kim Jong-un.
[41][42] The Korean People's Army has also made advances in
electronic warfare by developing
GPS jammers.
[43]
Current models include vehicle-mounted jammers with a range of 50
kilometres (31 mi)-100 kilometres (62 mi). Jammers with a range of more
than 100 km are being developed, along with
electromagnetic pulse bombs.
[44] The Korean People's Army has also made attempts to jam South Korean military satellites.
[45]
Despite the general fuel and ammunition shortages for training, it is
estimated that the wartime strategic reserves of food for the army are
sufficient to feed the regular troops for 500 days, while fuel and
ammunition - amounting to 1.5 million and 1.7 million tonnes
respectively - are sufficient to wage a full-scale war for 100 days.
[46]
The KPA does not operate
aircraft carriers, but has other means of
power projection.
Korean People's Air Force Il-76MD aircraft provide a strategic airlift
capacity of 6,000 troops, while the Navy's sea lift capacity amounts to
15,000 troops.
[47] The
Strategic Rocket Forces operate more than 1,000 ballistic missiles according to South Korean officials in 2010,
[48] although the
U.S. Department of Defense reported in 2012 that North Korea has fewer than 200 missile launchers.
[40] North Korea acquired 12
Foxtrot class and
Golf-II class missile submarines as scrap in 1993.
[49]
Some analysts suggest that these have either been refurbished with the
help of Russian experts or their launch tubes have been
reverse-engineered and externally fitted to regular submarines or cargo
ships.
[50]
However GlobalSecurity reports that the submarines were rust-eaten
hulks with the launch tubes inactivated under Russian observation before
delivery,
[51] and the
U.S. Department of Defense does not list them as active.
[40]
A photograph of
Kim Jong Un
receiving a briefing from his top generals on 29 March 2013 showed a
list that purported to show that the military had a minimum of 40
submarines, 13 landing ships, 6 minesweepers, 27 support vessels and
1,852 aircraft.
[52]
The Korean People's Army operates a very large amount of equipment, including 4,100
tanks, 2,100
APCs, 8,500
field artillery pieces, 5,100
multiple rocket launchers,
[40] 11,000 air defense guns and some 10,000
MANPADS and
anti-tank guided missiles[53] in the Ground force; about 500 vessels in the Navy
[40] and 730 combat aircraft in the Air Force,
[40] of which 478 are fighters and 180 are bombers.
[54] North Korea also has the largest special forces in the world, as well as the largest
submarine fleet.
[55]
The equipment is a mixture of World War II vintage vehicles and small
arms, widely proliferated Cold War technology, and more modern Soviet or
locally produced weapons.
North Korea possesses some 700 long-range artillery pieces —
Koksan 170 mm howitzers
and 240 mm multiple rocket launchers — that are capable of bombarding
Seoul. Given the city's population of 24 million people, the fear has
always been that a preemptive attack on the capital could kill millions
and turn it into a "Sea of Fire." However, a study released by the
Nautilus Institute
shows that the scenario may not be as devastating as previously
considered. If the bombardment was focused at military targets in Seoul,
some three thousand people may be killed within a few minutes, but
casualties would drop soon after as surprise wears off and
counter-battery fire engages. If civilian areas were hit, casualties
could approach 30,000 very shortly. Many factors influence how much
firepower could be brought to bear against Seoul at any one time
including North Korean doctrine to hold 25 percent of guns back in
reserve, a shell dud rate of up to 25 percent, a poor logistics and
resupply system, and air attacks that would likely whittle down the
number of artillery pieces.
[56]
Military equipment
Weapons
The KPA soldiers are mostly armed with locally produced Kalashnikov-type rifles as the standard issue weapon, notably the
Type 58 assault rifle,
Type 68A/B (AKM/AKMS), QBZ-03. Rifles are designated like the
Kalashnikov naming system, but they are named as "Type XX", making it
more like the Chinese naming system. Aside from AK-type rifles, the KPA
would gain some foreign made weaponry, mostly from China.
[57][58]
Chemical weapons
The
U.S. Department of Defense believes North Korea probably has a chemical weapons program and is likely to possess a stockpile of weapons.
[40]
Nuclear weapons
Nuclear tests
On 9 October 2006, the
North Korean government first announced that it had successfully fulfilled a
nuclear test for the first time. Experts at the
United States Geological Survey
and other Japanese seismological authorities detected an earthquake
with a preliminary estimated magnitude of 4.3 from the site in North
Korea, proving the official claims to be true.
[59]
North Korea also went on to claim that it had developed a
nuclear weapon in 2009. It is widely believed to possess a small stockpile of relatively simple nuclear weapons. The
IAEA
has met with Ri Je Son, The Director General of the General Department
of Atomic Energy (GDAE) of DPRK, to discuss nuclear matters.
[60][61] Ri Je Son was also mentioned in this role in 2002 in a United Nations article.
[62]
- 2006 North Korean nuclear test
- 2009 North Korean nuclear test
- 2013 North Korean nuclear test
- January 2016 North Korean nuclear test
- September 2016 North Korean nuclear test
Other
- Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground
- Ryanggang explosion
- Stealth paint
- Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center
- Songun
- Asymmetric warfare
- The launching of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 and Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 in 2012.
See also
Notes
Before the outbreak of the Korean War, Joseph Stalin equipped the KPA with modern tanks, trucks, artillery, and small arms (at the time, the South Korean Army had nothing remotely comparable either in numbers of troops or equipment). During the opening phases of the Korean War in 1950, the KPA quickly drove South Korean forces south and captured Seoul, only to lose 70,000 of their 100,000-strong army in the autumn after U.S. amphibious landings at the Battle of Incheon and a subsequent drive to the Yalu River. On 4 November, China openly staged a military intervention. On 7 December, Kim Il-sung was deprived of the right of command of KPA by China.[12] The KPA subsequently played a secondary minor role to Chinese forces in the remainder of the conflict. By the time of the Armistice in 1953, the KPA had sustained 290,000 casualties and lost 90,000 men as POWs.A monument in Pyongyang, depicting North Korean airmen and a MiG fighter.
North Korean soldier, 2005.
North Korea has universal conscription for males and selective conscription for females with many pre- and post-service requirements.[citation needed] Article 86 of the North Korean Constitution states: "National defence is the supreme duty and honour of citizens. Citizens shall defend the country and serve in the armed forces as required by law."[17]Korean People's Army soldiers
Under the Ministry of People's Security and the wartime control of the Ministry of People's Armed Forces, and formerly the Korean People's Security Forces, the Korean People's Internal Security Forces forms the national gendarmerie and civil defense force of the KPA. The KPISF has its units in various fields like civil defense, traffic management, civil disturbance control, and local security. It has its own special forces units. The service shares the ranks of the KPA (with the exception of Marshals) but wears different uniforms.The Memorial of Soldiers at the Mansudae Grand Monument
According to North Korea's state news agency, military expenditures for 2010 made up 15.8 percent of the state budget.[19] Most analyses of North Korea’s defense sector, however, estimate that defense spending constitutes between one-quarter and one-third of all government spending. As of 2003, according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, North Korea’s defense budget consumed some 25 percent of central government spending.[20] In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, according to figures released by the Polish Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, between 32 and 38 percent of central government expenditures went towards defense.[21]Korean People's Army vehicles on parade
North Korea sells missiles and military equipment to many countries worldwide.[22] In April 2009, the United Nations named the Korea Mining and Development Trading Corporation (KOMID) as North Korea's primary arms dealer and main exporter of equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons. It also named Korea Ryonbong as a supporter of North Korea's military related sales.[23]Vice Marshal Jo Myong-rok meets Bill Clinton at the White House, October 2000
Koksan, one of North Korea's principal heavy artillery pieces. This example was captured in Iraq.
DPRK soldiers standing at the JSA between the blue buildings.Main article: Korean People's Army Ground ForceThe Korean People's Army Ground Force (KPAGF) is the main branch of the Korean People's Army responsible for land-based military operations. It is the de facto army of North Korea.
A former Indonesian Lim-5 on display in the United States in North Korean markingsMain article: Korean People's Army Air ForceThe KPAF is also responsible for North Korea's air defence forces through the use of anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air (SAM) missiles. While much of the equipment is outdated, the high saturation of multilayered, overlapping, mutually supporting air defence sites provides a formidable challenge to enemy air attacks.[35]
After the Korean War the North Korea maintained a powerful, but smaller than South Korean, military force. In 1967 the KPA forces of about 345,000 were much smaller than the South Korean ground forces of about 535,000.[36] North Korea's relative isolation and economic plight starting from the 1980s has now tipped the balance of military power into the hands of the better-equipped South Korean military.[22] In response to this predicament, North Korea relies on asymmetric warfare techniques and unconventional weaponry to achieve parity against high-tech enemy forces.[22] North Korea is reported to have developed a wide range of technologies towards this end, such as stealth paint to conceal ground targets,[37] midget submarines and human torpedoes,[38] blinding laser weapons,[39] and probably has a chemical weapons program and is likely to possess a stockpile of chemical weapons.[40] The Korean People's Army operates ZM-87 anti-personnel lasers, which are banned under the United Nations Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons.[39]Semi-submersible infiltration craft used by North Korean Special Forces[citation needed]
Despite the general fuel and ammunition shortages for training, it is estimated that the wartime strategic reserves of food for the army are sufficient to feed the regular troops for 500 days, while fuel and ammunition - amounting to 1.5 million and 1.7 million tonnes respectively - are sufficient to wage a full-scale war for 100 days.[46]A KPAF Ilyushin Il-76MD strategic airlifter in the mid-2000s, in Air Koryo markings.
5 MWe experimental reactor at Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army document "North Korea's Military Threat".
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