


Korean People's Army KPA
조선인민군

The Korean People's Army is the military force of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea. Under the Songun policy, it is the central institution of North Korean society. Kim Jong-un serves as Supreme Commander and the chairman of the Central Military Commission. The KPA consists of five branches: the Ground Force, the Naval Force, the Air and Anti-Air Force, the Strategic Rocket Forces, and the Special Operation Force.
The KPA considers its primary adversaries to be 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 2021, it is the second-largest military organisation in the world, with 30.4% of the North Korean population actively serving, in reserve or in a paramilitary capacity.
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 Defence, 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 Defence as part of its systemic responsibilities. All members of the State Affairs Commission have membership status (regular or alternate) on the WPK Political Bureau.
North Korea has universal conscription for males and selective conscription for females with many pre-and post-service requirements. 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."
KPA soldiers serve three years of military service in the KPA, which also runs its own factories, farms and trading arms. 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.
Founded 25 April 1932
Current form 8 February 1948
Service branches KPA Ground Force; KPA Naval Force; KPA Air and Anti-Air Force; KPA Strategic Rocket Force; KPA Special Operation Force
Headquarters State Affairs Commission, Pyongyang
Military age 17-30
Conscription 18
Active personnel 1,280,000
Reserve personnel 600,000
Budget US$1.6 billion (2018)
Percent of GDP 4.9% (2018)

KPA Air and Anti-Air Force
KPA
Army
KPA
Navy
KPA Strategic Rocket Force
KPA Special Operation Force


Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force
조선인민군 항공 및 반항공군
The Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force is the unified military aviation force of North Korea. It is the second-largest branch of the Korean People's Army comprising an estimated 110,000 members. It possesses around 950 aircraft of different types, mostly of decades-old Soviet and Chinese origin. Its primary task is to defend North Korean airspace.
Founded 1946; 75 years ago
Size 110,000 personnel, est. 950+ Aircraft
Equipment
Light Utility Helicopter



Korean People's Army Ground Force
조선인민군 륙군
朝鮮人民軍 陸軍

The Korean People's Army Ground Force is the main branch of the Korean People's Army, responsible for land-based military operations. In 2003 it was reported that the overwhelming majority of active ground forces were deployed in three echelons — a forward operational echelon of four infantry corps; supported by a second operational echelon of two mechanized corps, the armoured corps, and an artillery corps; and a strategic reserve of the two remaining mechanized corps and the other artillery corps. These forces include the 806th and 815th Mechanised Corps and the 820th Armoured Corps. These forces were garrisoned along major north-south lines of communication that provide rapid, easy access to avenues of approach into South Korea. The KPAGF has positioned massive numbers of artillery pieces, including some fakes, especially its longer-range systems, close to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas. The IISS Military Balance 2017 listed the KPA GF as comprising an estimated 1,020,000 personnel; two mechanised corps headquarters (HQs); 9 infantry corps HQ; the Capital Defence Corps HQ; one armoured division [the 105th]; fifteen armoured brigades; four mechanised divisions; 27 infantry divisions; 14 infantry brigades; two surface-to-surface missile brigades; one artillery division; 21 artillery brigades; 9 multiple rocket launcher brigades; one engineer river crossing brigade; and 5-8 engineer river crossing regiments (p.304). Kyle Mizokami wrote in February 2020 that the 820th Armoured Corps was made up of two armoured brigades and five mechanised brigades, and likely only to be "partially equipped" with the Pokpung-ho tank.
Founded August 20, 1947;
Size 950,000 active; 7,620,000 reserve;

Equipment

Korean People's Army Naval Force
조선인민군 해군



The Korean People's Army Naval Force or the Korean People's Navy (KPN), is the naval service branch of the Korean People's Army, which contains each branch of the North Korean armed forces.
There are some 780 vessels including 70 midget submarines (including the Yono-class submarine and Sang-O-class submarine), 20 Romeo-class submarines, and about 140 air-cushioned landing craft.
The North Korean navy is considered a brown-water (or riverine) navy and operates mainly within the 50-kilometre exclusion zone. The fleet consists of east and west coast squadrons, which cannot support each other in the event of war with South Korea. The limited range of most of the antiquated and derelict vessels means that, even in peacetime, it is virtually impossible for a ship on one coast to visit the other coast.
According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the 146,000-man Korean Peoples' Army Navy (KPAN) is primarily a coastal navy. The KPAN is organized into two fleets: the East Coast Fleet, with eight operational commands, and the West Coast Fleet, with five operational commands. The East Coast Fleet is headquartered at Toejo Dong, with major bases at Najin and Wonsan.
The West Coast Fleet is headquartered at Nampo, with major bases at Pipagot and Sagon Ni. Numerous smaller naval bases are located along both coasts. The fleets do not exchange vessels because geographical limitations make mutual support almost impossible. The KPAN does not have a Marine Corps or naval aviation capabilities. Amphibious operations are conducted by SOF units in addition to naval personnel.
According to South Korea's National Intelligence Service (in 1999):
The DPRK Navy is divided into East Sea (10 squadrons) and West Sea fleets (6 squadrons) with a total manpower of 148,000.
North Korea's fleet consist of approximately 630 combat vessels (Patrol craft, guided missile boats, torpedo boats, fire support craft, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and three cruisers), 100 submarines, and 340 support craft (landing craft, hovercraft). As with the ground forces, 60% of the vessels are stationed near the demarcation line.
North Korea has constructed and is operating up to 130 hovercraft, each one capable of transporting a special forces platoon and operating freely in difficult terrain such as tidal flats, and able to be used for multiple landings by special forces troops at the onset of any war.
The Times puts the total in 2009 at "420 warships and 60 submarines."
The annual report of North Korea's military capabilities by the U.S. Department of Defense, released in early 2014, identified the North Korean Navy's strength at 60,000 personnel, 70 submarines, 420 gunboats, 260 amphibious landing craft, 30 mine warfare vessels, and 30 support ships. The KPN has 20 bases split between the two coasts (the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea) with major and minor bases.
The western fleet has approximately 300 watercraft (administrative, operational and logistic support), berthing facility for Yellow Sea Fleet; home to shipyard and sub base. The eastern fleet has approximately 470 ships and small craft.
Founded June 5, 1946; 75 years ago;
Size 60,000 personnel
Equipment

Korean People's Army Strategic Rocket Force
조선인민군 전략로케트군
朝鮮人民軍 戰略로케트軍

The Korean People's Army Strategic Rocket Force also known as Missile Guidance Bureau is a military branch of the Korean People's Army that oversees North Korea's nuclear and conventional strategic missiles. It is mainly armed with surface-to-surface missiles of domestic design as well as older Soviet and Chinese models. The KPA-SRF was established in 1999 when several missile units under KPA Ground Force Artillery Command were re-organized into a single missile force reporting directly to the office of the Supreme Commander of the KPA via the General Staff.
The testing in 2018 and 2019 of four new road-mobile, solid propellant propulsion, SRBMs marked a qualitative improvement in North Korean missiles. These have a reduced firing preparation signature making destruction before launch more difficult, and some have a flattened trajectory making in-flight interception more difficult. Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya stated, "I believe that [North Korea’s] development of a missile that flies at a lower altitude than a conventional ballistic missile in an irregular trajectory is aimed at breaking through the [Japanese] missile defence system". These new missiles such as the KN-23 and KN-24 are more sophisticated than the previous Hwasong series. They employ flattened trajectories to remain below 50 km in altitude, putting them in between the 40 km maximum engagement altitude of Patriot missile-defence interceptors and 50 km minimum engagement altitude of THAAD and Aegis missile defence systems. Flying through this coverage gap and using active steering increases survivability against missile defences. They also have the advantage of being solid-fueled and more accurate than their predecessors, making them more effective weapons.
Between 2018 and 2020, North Korea expanded its missiles brigades from 8 to 13. The Strategic Rocket Forces is a branch of the KPA and are directly subordinate to the supreme commander. As of 2017, North Korea is thought to possess about 900 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs).
North Korean missiles can serve to deliver various types of warheads, including WMD. It is possible that up to three Rodong-1 missiles are fitted with nuclear warheads. In a similar manner to the initial Chinese nuclear doctrine, nuclear weapons are being stored separately, and would only be mounted on missiles after an order of the supreme commander (Kim Jong-un). Despite the claims by numerous media that North Korea has not yet created nuclear warheads small enough to be fit in a missile, reports surfaced in April 2009, according to which North Korea has miniaturized warheads, capable of being mounted on its missiles. The most suitable nuclear weapons delivery system is the Rodong-1, which has been successfully tested many times.
Additionally, North Korea possesses a large chemical weapons stockpile, including powerful agents such as tabun, sarin, soman, VX gas and others. Little is known about the biological weapons stockpiles. They are probably limited, as North Koreans consider them much more dangerous to handle, therefore posing a threat to their own soldiers apart from the enemy.
North Korea has yet to demonstrate the ability to produce a re-entry vehicle, without which North Korea cannot deliver a weapon accurately from an ICBM. However, a crude and highly inaccurate blunt-body reentry vehicle could be used in early missiles.
North Korea has been upgrading warheads for their Scud derived ballistic missiles with manoeuvrable reentry vehicle capability in order to increase accuracy and introduce the capability of evasion of ballistic missile defence systems such as THAAD.
Founded 1999; 22 years ago;
Size 13 brigades.
Equipment

Korean People's Army Special Operation Force
조선인민군 특수작전군

Equipment
The Korean People's Army Special Operation Force consists of specially equipped and trained elite military units trained to perform military, political, or psychological operations for North Korea. The units are active in testing the defences of South Korea and have been detected operating in or around South Korea many times in the decades since the end of the Korean War. It is estimated that there are 200,000 SOF soldiers. The missions of the KPA Special Operation Forces are to breach the fixed defence of South Korea, to create a "second front" in the enemy's rear area, and to conduct battlefield and strategic reconnaissance. North Korean commandos use the antiquated Antonov An-2 to infiltrate by air. The An-2 can deliver paratroopers by airdrop or air land. With the An-2's small airframe, it is possible to land on a highway and insert paratroopers on the ground. Sometimes known as "sniper" brigades, they are part of the ground intelligence effort of the KPA. These units also have the ability to perform Direct Action. They train and equip to seize or destroy strategic targets within South Korean territory. Additionally, it is suspected that these units carry out assassination attempts. KPA light infantry battalions are found in forward-deployed and rear-area corps-level units of North Korea. The light battalions are similar to their amphibious light infantry counterparts except for the absence of additional marine training. The major focus of the light infantry is the "rapid infiltration and disruption of enemy rear areas through concealed movement". The missions of the light infantry include seizure of forwarding area lines of communication and destruction of high-payoff targets such as nuclear or chemical sites. In keeping with their name, they are lightly armed and equipped with small arms and anti-tank weapons. For years, the light infantry SOF was known to be one of the few special forces of the world without body armour: without armour was clearly seen in videos during training or military exercises. Finally in summer 2012 surfaced few pictures with special forces showing body armour during training. It is noted that the armour may not necessarily be military-grade, instead of being of the kevlar variety, similar to the PASGT. Estimates reveal that the North Koreans can deliver over 7,000 SOF personnel to each of South Korea's coastlines. Based on the number of ships available to the KPA special forces, they could deliver 5,000 of these soldiers in one lift (approximately 102 amphibious craft). It is expected that these special forces once ashore, will attempt to infiltrate South Korea's rugged terrain to attack the South Koreans in their rear areas just before and during the renewed commencement of hostilities between the two countries. Further, the added capability of a small ship with "stealthy" characteristics enables the commandos the ability to ferry to the South Korean coastline.
Founded October 30, 1968;
Size 200,000.