According to the U.S. military website Global Firepower, North Korea is ranked 28th in the world in terms of overall military power, but its active military ranks 4th in the world, and is not only likely to attack South Korea at any time, but also tries to use nuclear weapons to threaten the U.S. and Japan.
While North Korea has limited economic power, the Kim regime maintains a large military that is completely beyond the need for defense and is typically militaristic.
General Overview
The DPRK has about 1.3 million active-duty military personnel, the 4th largest in the world, and more than 6 million paramilitary personnel of all kinds, including the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Guards, the Youth Red Guards, and the Social Security Army, who can be deployed to the battlefield at any time to implement human tactics. The population of North Korea is over 25 million, all of whom are under the strict control of the Kim regime and could be driven to become cannon fodder.
North Korea is bordered by northeastern China and a small section of Russia to the north, South Korea to the south, the Yellow Sea, the East Sea, and the Gulf of Korea to the west, and the Sea of Japan to the east, across the sea from Japan. North Korea occupies 55% of the Korean Peninsula, but about 80% is mountainous and only the southern region has some plains and arable land, and faces immediate food shortages in the event of natural disasters.
Knowing that South Korea and the U.S. will not invade, North Korea makes frequent offensive and provocative gestures. North Korea’s nuclear weapons also threaten Japan and even the U.S. mainland. At the same time, North Korea has to be wary of the Chinese Communist Party and Russia.
External estimates of North Korea’s military spending are about $3.5 billion, or about 8-9% of GDP, and may actually be higher. North Korea’s GDP is as falsified as the CCP’s, and it is difficult to know the real figure, which is estimated by outsiders to be about $40 billion. North Korea relies more on the Chinese Communist Party for basic supplies and implements a strict planned economy and rationing mechanism, making life difficult for the vast majority of the North Korean people, with only the Kim family living an imperial life.
The North Korean army is the private army of the Kim regime, with a monopoly on the chain of command greater than the CCP ever had, and anyone deemed disloyal or guilty of serious mistakes is brutally executed.
North Korea’s weaponry was mainly Soviet-era weapons, partly also supplied by the CCP, and also produced its own light weapons, artillery, tanks, etc. North Korea has half stolen and half learned nuclear weapons and missile technology from the former Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party, desperately developing nuclear weapons to serve the Kim regime and constantly stirring up trouble in the international arena. North Korea is also considered to have the third largest arsenal of chemical weapons in the world, which is very dangerous. The North Korean military has not been in actual combat since the Korean War, but provocations continue.
Photo released by North Korea on April 1, 2017, of Kim Jong Un (center) inspecting North Korean tank units at an undisclosed location, in which tank soldiers are dressed in attire largely similar to that of the former Soviet Union. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
North Korean Army
The North Korean Army has nearly 1 million men on active duty, comparable to the Chinese Communist Army, and is the bulk of the North Korean military, with land warfare equipment dominated by Soviet-era weapons.
Among the tanks in the DPRK’s inventory, there are about 2,000 T54/55 tanks from the early Soviet Union, nearly 1,000 T-62 tanks, about 175 Type 59 tanks from the Chinese Communist Party, and about 1,200 Tenmahu tanks, which the DPRK imitated and produced on its own. Including all types of old tanks, the “Global Firepower” website lists North Korea as having more than 6,000 tanks, the second largest number in the world. The actual performance of North Korean tanks cannot be compared with South Korean tanks or American tanks, and it is difficult to confirm how many are well-maintained and battle-ready.
North Korea has more than 1,200 former Soviet BMP-1 and earlier armored vehicles, and the Global Firepower website lists about 10,000, which should include all types of small armored vehicles.
“Global Firepower lists North Korea’s self-propelled and towed artillery as about 1,150 guns, which should be more, and nearly 1,500 sets of multiple rocket launchers of all types, which should be more, in addition to more mortars, probably in the thousands. These artillery pieces pose a serious threat to the dense population of South Korean cities.
The North Korean Army is also responsible for limited low-altitude defense, primarily using anti-aircraft machine guns, and older man-portable anti-aircraft missiles.
North Korea does not need such a large land force for defense, more internally to defend the Kim regime and externally to threaten South Korea mainly with maneuvers and also to guard against Communist China and Russia.
Pictured here is an image released by North Korea on April 14, 2017 of a special operations forces throwing and targeting competition, with soldiers using weapons similar to Soviet AK-47 submachine guns. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
North Korean Special Forces
With approximately 200,000 special forces, North Korea has the largest number of special forces in the world.
The mission of North Korean special forces is mainly to open up a second battlefield, or more battlefields, within South Korea. Armed only with light weapons and anti-tank weapons, these special forces attack South Korea’s valuable targets, including military and political governors at all levels, in large numbers, using another kind of man-overboard tactics.
North Korea is believed to have dug at least dozens of underground tunnels deep into South Korean territory, ready for mass infiltration, as well as from the ground through the complex terrain of the 38th parallel, and can also land on South Korean highways in small transport aircraft, as well as parachute in.
North Korea has the largest number of mini-submarines in the world, mainly for infiltrating South Korea from the sea, but also includes a large number of small landing craft, etc.
Once these special forces are deployed, there is essentially a high probability that they will not return, but the Kim regime does not care if they live or die.
Photo shows news of North Korea’s missile test launch that day being shown on a screen at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 29, 2017. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images)
North Korea’s missile force
North Korea’s missile force is similar to that of the Chinese Communist Party, in charge of more than 1,000 missiles, including medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, but also short-range tactical missiles. North Korea is believed to have produced at least 30-40 nuclear warheads; it is difficult to know how many people are serving in the missile force.
North Korea has developed the Mars 12 missile with a possible range of 5,000 km, the Mars 14 with a possible range of 10,000 km, and the Mars 15 with a claimed range of 13,000 km, which could threaten the U.S. mainland. The number of these medium- and long-range missiles deployed is unknown.
North Korea’s earlier Mars 7 missiles, modeled after the former Soviet Union, have a range of 900-1,500 kilometers, and 200-300 may have been produced and deployed. The Mars 10 has a possible range of 2,500-4,000 kilometers and should have been deployed in small numbers.
All of these missiles are theoretically capable of carrying nuclear warheads, but actual strike accuracy is difficult to confirm, and should be aimed primarily at South Korea, Japan, U.S. bases, and even U.S. territory, which should also include China and Russia.
North Korea has also been trying to develop submarine-launched ballistic missiles, with the Polaris 3 missile possibly reaching a range of 2,500 kilometers, but it is not possible to confirm whether North Korea already has strategic submarines deployed.
North Korea’s Mars 5 and 6 short-range missiles, which mimic Scud missiles with a maximum range of 300-500 kilometers, are also estimated to be deployed in the hundreds, primarily against South Korea.
North Korea has also produced its own shore-based anti-ship missiles and cruise missiles, imitating the former Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party, with a possible range of 200-300 km and an unknown number of deployments.
North Korea’s nuclear weapons have become the Kim regime’s main tool for blackmailing the international community.
Pictured here, North Korea allows spectators to take photos in front of a MiG-29 aircraft at the first-ever Wonsan Aviation Festival on Sept. 25, 2016.The MiG-29 is the best fighter jet in the North Korean Air Force. (Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)
North Korean Air Force
The DPRK Air Force, which has about 110,000 personnel in service and operates fewer than 1,000 relatively obsolete aircraft, is also responsible for operating air defense missiles.
North Korea’s best fighters are the Russian Mig-29 with about 35 aircraft, as well as the former Soviet Mig-21 with about 26 aircraft and the Chinese Communist Party’s J-7 with about 12 aircraft; as well as the early Soviet fighter-bomber Mig-23 with about 56 aircraft and the Su-7 with about 18 aircraft; the fighter Su-24 with about 34 aircraft and the Chinese Communist Party’s Qiang-5 with about 40 aircraft.
These second- and third-generation aircraft are outdated and it is difficult to confirm whether they are well-maintained. in June 2018, Kim Jong-un traveled to Singapore to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and had to borrow a Boeing 747 from the Chinese Communist Party to get there, showing the level of North Korean aviation. North Korea should not expect the air force to really attack South Korea, and can only try to use it for air defense, and the possibility of suicide attacks cannot be completely ruled out.
North Korea’s air defense missiles, there are about 75 S-200 missiles from the former Soviet Union, about 156 sets of missile systems imitated by itself, and 300 anti-aircraft missiles from the early Soviet Union, and the rest rely mainly on man-portable missiles and anti-aircraft machine guns.
North Korea’s weak air defense capability is also one of the reasons why North Korea does not dare to move easily. Once war starts, North Korea cannot withstand the air counterattack from the U.S. and South Korea, and the Kim family and vassals may be beheaded soon, so North Korea actually does not dare to risk attacking South Korea at will.
The photo shows a North Korean mini-submarine discovered on September 18, 1998, about 20 kilometers south of the northeast coast of North Korea. (Kim Jae-/AFP via Getty Images)
North Korean Navy
The DPRK Navy has about 60,000 men in service, no large surface warships, and only hundreds of missile boats, torpedo boats, and patrol boats, scattered along the east and west coasts, unable to support each other and barely able to fight offshore, much less compete for sea power.
North Korea has the largest number of submarines in the world, including about 20 early Soviet-produced 2,000-ton Type 633 submarines, about four earlier 1,000-ton Type 613 submarines, and more mini-submarines. There are 36 Shark-class submarines with a displacement of 277 tons; 10 Salmon-class submarines with a displacement of 130 tons; and more than 40 Nanyang-class submarines with a displacement of only 90 tons. North Korea’s numerous mini-submarines are mainly used for landing infiltration against South Korea.
North Korea also has nearly 500 landing craft that should also be used for infiltration landings against South Korea.
Conclusion
The DPRK does not need such a large military force to defend its territory, but it has a strategic goal of offense and spends money to maintain a staggering number of offensive forces, which are ready to attack the ROK by manned sea.
The impoverished DPRK is also spending huge amounts of money on developing nuclear weapons as a means of blackmailing neighboring countries and the international community. The Chinese Communist Party has actually planted a bomb in the body by supporting and using North Korea. The Kim family has been in power for three generations and has never really been willing to take orders from the Chinese Communist regime.
The North Korean army is one of the prime examples of militarism in the world, one of the most dangerous armies in the world, and the Kim regime is one of the evil regimes in the world, as well as the root cause of the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
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