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Origins and Evolution. The 20th century history of Korea is essential to understanding North Korea’s national objectives. Until the end of World War II in 1945, Korea remained a single, ethnically and culturally homogenous — but not independent — country for over 1,000 years. Korea initially was divided on a “temporary” basis by the United States and the Soviet Union along the 38th parallel to facilitate the surrender and demobilization of occupying Japanese forces in Korea. The separation of the Koreas resulted in a split between communism and democracy/capitalism, both tempered by fighting the injustices from the colonization of Korea by the Japanese.

The origins of the KPA are a fusion of Koreans fighting in China for the Chinese Revolution and against Japanese aggression (Yanan faction); the Koreans fighting the Japanese in Manchuria under the control of the Soviets (Kaspan faction); and the Koreans fighting Japanese colonialism on the Korean peninsula as well as each other for control in Korea after the Korean War.

The birth of the KPA can be established probably in 1936 when the Korean Fatherland Restoration Association (KFRA) was established to create a united front organization of anti-Japanese Koreans operating in Manchuria. On June 4, 1937, Kim Il Sung led a small group of partisans subordinate to the KFRA on a raid against a small border village in Korea and defeated a small Japanese police detachment. This muchcelebrated victory subsequently became the source of the Kaspan faction’s name and the beginning of Kim Il Sung’s legendary military career.

In 1939, the Korean Volunteer Army (KVA) was formed in Yanan, China, to support Mao Zedong and fought with the Chinese Communist forces in World War II and the Chinese Revolution. In April 1946, the KVA was absorbed by various area commands which ultimately evolved into the newly forming Korean Peace Preservation Corps moving into northern Korea. Eventually, even this Corps was diluted by further officer transfers and reorganizations and eventually passed out of existence. However, the legacy and history of the KVA continued to be used probably for security and morale reasons.

In 1942, Kim Il Sung commanded a company of the Soviet Far East Command’s Reconnaissance Bureau’s 88th Special Independent Sniper Brigade and received a significant amount of training and experience in his future development of special purpose forces for the KPA.

The KPA was established formally by Kim Il Sung on February 8, 1948, the day after the Fourth Session of the (NK) People’s Assembly agreed to separate the roles of the military and those of the police. The origin of the KPA certainly is rooted in the anti-Japanese guerrilla armies in general that operated under Soviet and Chinese military control. For 30 years, the KPA commemorated its birth on February 8. Then in 1978, North Korea changed the commemoration date to April 25 to correspond with the date in 1932 that Kim Il Sung allegedly organized his Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army. By this act, Kim Il Sung was extolling the Korean-ness of the KPA, while dismissing the combined influences of the Soviets and the Chinese Communists upon the establishment of the KPA.

Just after World War II and during the Soviet Union’s occupation of the portion of Korea north of the 38th Parallel, the Soviet 25th Army Headquarters in Pyongyang issued a statement ordering all (North Korean) armed resistance groups in the northern part of the peninsula to disband on October 12, 1945.

Two thousand Koreans were allowed to briefly enter into Korea but were returned to Manchuria. There were several possible reasons as to why these Koreans were not allowed to stay in Korea. The Soviets may have been concerned with sending a trained armed force into a country it would occupy, possibly giving the Soviets trouble regarding insurgency. Many of these Korean soldiers actually had lived in Manchuria and were just returning to their homes. Finally, most of these soldiers actually were raw recruits and, rather than repatriating them, perhaps they were encouraged to return to the Chinese Eighth Route Army so that, after a period of seasoning, they might return to Korea to become a core element in the nation’s future armed forces.

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 October 21, 1945. The Headquarters activated a separate unit for railway security on August 15, 1945, to supervise existing security forces and to create the national armed forces. After the North Korean military was organized with facilities to educate its new recruits, the Constabulary Discipline Corps was reorganized into the North Korean People’s Army Corps Headquarters.

The State Security Department, a forerunner to MPAF, was established as part of the Interim People’s Committee on February 4, 1948, with the formal creation of the KPA being announced on February 8, seven months before the government of the DPRK was proclaimed on September 9, 1948. In accordance with Kim Il Sung’s stated aspirations to “build a powerful modern military,” the task continued in earnest, as the army’s first tank unit — the 105th Armored Battalion — was established. With the growth of the military to some 60,000 troops, the KPA Headquarters created two additional ground divisions.

In 1949, after the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) took control of China, the CCF released tens of thousands of combat-hardened ethnic Koreans from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for duty with the KPA.

In 1950, KPA was a well-trained and modern force, carefully constructed along Soviet lines. For over 2 years, hundreds of Soviet advisers had molded the army. The Russians also had generously supplied it with arms. Each KPA division, for example, was equipped with 12 122mm howitzers, 24 76mm guns, and 12 45mm antitank guns. All were recent World War II vintage. The Soviets also provided the KPA with tanks. Each infantry division had organic tanks, and there was also a separate tank division. The 105th Armored Division boasted 120 modern T-34 main battle tanks.

The Korean War provided the KPA with some lessons learned that they have attempted to correct to this day. First, they fully understand the value of the intervention by the United States. History shows that had the United States not intervened, success for the KPA would have been virtually assured.

Critical defects concerning the KPA were identified: (1) the KPA’s infantry-centric organization was unsuited to the Soviet’s armored/mechanized infantry doctrine (attributed by the KPA as the primary cause of its failures); (2) its strategic plan was inadequately developed to destroy its opponent; (3) its cadre was poorly trained in military doctrine and tactics; (4) its reserve forces were sparsely fielded; and (5) its logistical system was insufficient to supply the army’s needs. Further weaknesses included leaders who were inadequately versed in strategy and tactics and operational/tactical inefficacy.

By 1960, ground forces may have totaled fewer than 400,000 persons and probably did not rise much above that figure before 1972.

KPA Modernization and Reorganization. Beginning in the late 1970s, North Korea began a major reorganization and modernization of its ground forces. This was probably a reflection of the lessons learned (sudden attack, quick victory, and role of a guerrilla struggle to supplant conventional capabilities) from observing the Vietnam War and other regional conflicts such as the Arab-Israeli wars.

During the 1980s, doctrine and organization were revamped to increase the lethality, speed, and combat power of the attack. The shifting of the majority of the North Korean ground forces closer to the DMZ offered the potential for a more rapid advance and minimizing the time of detection of intent. The reorganization of Pyongyang’s exploitation forces in the 1980s suggested that initial attacking forces will be reinforced by heavier and more mobile units to exploit any breakthroughs.

The KPA was not uniformly successful in its 1980s efforts to modernize its forces in support of a high-speed offensive strategy; more needs to be done to update the army’s mobility, artillery, and air defense elements. North Korea increased its tank fleet, but incomplete information suggested that it remained based largely on dated Soviet technology with retrofitted indigenous improvements.

KPA artillery systems appeared to have made the most of the limited technological base. The KPA increased the artillery force while maintaining relative quantitative and range superiorities over its potential southern adversary and improving force mobility. The technological level of Pyongyang’s industrial base appeared to ensure that, with the possible exception of narrow areas of special interest, built-in obsolescence will be unavoidable, regardless of how undesirable. Pyongyang appeared to be quantitatively increasing the amount of systems with larger caliber weapons but qualitatively, these weapons did not include modern evolutionary advances such as computerized targeting, radar guided munitions, etc.

Between 1984 and 1992, the army added about 1,000 tanks, over 2,500 APC/infantry fighting vehicles, and about 6,000 artillery tubes or rocket launchers. In 1992 North Korea had about twice the advantage in numbers of tanks and artillery, and a 1.5-to-1 advantage in personnel over its potential adversaries, the U.S.Republic of Korea defenses to the south.

By 1996, KPA major combat units consisted of 153 divisions and brigades, including 60 infantry divisions/brigades, 25 mechanized infantry brigades, 13 tank brigades, 25 Special Operations Force (SOF) brigades, and 30 artillery brigades. North Korea deployed 10 corps, including 60 divisions and brigades in the forward area south of the Pyongyang-Wonsan line. The KPA ground forces were composed of 20 corps commands, including four mechanized and two artillery corps, as well as a Tank Instruction Guidance Bureau and an Artillery Command, Reconnaissance Bureau, and one Light Infantry Training and Guidance Bureau (formerly the VIII Special Corps controlling the SOF).

Figure 4 reflects the disposition of the KPA Corps along the DMZ and other military units throughout the country. Although it is difficult to know North Korea’s precise intentions or aspirations, by 2004 its forces were deployed along the DMZ in such a manner that they could support an invasion of South Korea. In particular, the percentage of North Korean forces deployed within 100km of the DMZ has increased significantly during the past 2 decades, with approximately 70 percent of its military units, and up to 80 percent of its estimated aggregate firepower, within 100km of the DMZ. With these forward deployments, North Korea theoretically could invade the South without recourse to further deployments and with relatively little warning time. The KPA continued to modernize its military as North Korea announced an annual defense budget of 15.5 percent of the government budget, or about 30 percent of its gross national product (GNP). Reportedly because of fiscal constraints, North Korea seeks to increase its development and procurement of asymmetric weapons systems including missiles, chemical, and biological munitions — and continue its development of nuclear weapons.

By 2006, North Korea’s asymmetric or unconventional warfare programs (SOF, WMD, etc.) measurably contributed to the country’s security from external threats and complemented its conventional military capabilities. The continued conventional force improvement and asymmetric capability acquisition provided a measured balance to offset capability deficiencies and poor readiness while attempting to satisfy North Korean military strategy requirements.

NK National Security Strategy. North Korea appears to have two primary strategic goals or objectives: (1) the perpetuation of the regime, and (2) reunification of the Fatherland (Korean peninsula) under North Korea’s control. The first is really noncontroversial, although analysts quibble about the precise terminology. The second is more controversial, and specialists disagree. However, there are good reasons for concluding that reunification by force has not been ruled out as a regime goal by Pyongyang.

Source: Gause, North Korean Civil-Military Trends, September 2006, p. 36.

Figure 4. Kpa Military Disposition.

North Korea’s constitution describes reunification as “the supreme national task.” The current North Korean constitution was adopted in 1972; it was revised in 1992 and again in 1998. The paramount importance of reunification is a central theme in this version of the document, as well as the first North Korean constitution adopted at the founding of the regime in 1948. The preamble to the charter of the [North] KWP declares that “the present task of the Party is to ensure the complete victory of socialism in the DPRK and the accomplishment of the revolutionary goals of national liberation and the people’s democracy in the entire area of the country.”

This supreme national task should never be forgotten, as it permeates the entire foundation of North Korea’s strategy and doctrine. North Korean media always has held that the North Korean military is for defensive purposes (defense against foreign invasion by “imperialist aggressors and their lackey running dogs” [i.e., the United States and South Korea]).

This defensive argument is reinforced by North Korea’s supposed fear that the United States will use the Bush Doctrine of 2002 to conduct a preemptive strike against North Korea’s nuclear facilities. However, as Homer T. Hodge explains, the North Korean leaders view the southern half of their country as occupied by “U.S. Imperialists,” and “defense” does not refer to defending North Korea but defending the entire Korean peninsula. Moreover, when Pyongyang officials speak of “peaceful reunification,” their conception of what this entails may be rather different from that of their counterparts in Seoul, Washington, and elsewhere. The Swedish ambassador to Pyongyang recalls being amazed at the terminology employed by a DPRK official in 1975 when the official congratulated North Vietnam for its victory over South Vietnam at a state banquet. The speaker commended Hanoi “on achieving the peaceful unification of Vietnam.”

North Korea continues to pursue and develop offensive-oriented weapons such as ballistic missiles, nuclear weapons, and submarines. Reunification through force of arms appears to remain possible to Kim Jong Il.

One should not forget that Kim Il Sung attempted to militarily reunify the Korean Peninsula in 1950 with his invasion (characterized by North Korea as the “Fatherland Liberation War”) into South Korea. Some scholars like to characterize this conflict as a proxy war between the two superpowers. However, as Bruce Cumings and other historians have observed, it was Kim Il Sung who planned and led this civil war.

Three Revolutionary Forces. Having failed to reunify the peninsula by purely military action, Kim Il Sung recognized the need to combine political and diplomatic efforts with an offensive military strategy. In 1960, Kim Il Sung articulated a “Three Fronts (Revolutionary Forces)” national strategy. These revolutionary forces referred to those revolutionary forces in the north, in the south and the international community necessary for the reunification of Korea and were later redefined as three phases of war. The north revolutionary forces meant “the transformation of the Military Might,” southern revolutionary forces as the erosion of the South Korean alliance with the United States, and the international revolutionary forces would be the diplomatic war to increase support for Pyongyang and isolate Seoul.

In 1962, the Fifth Plenum of the KWP Central Committee adopted a three-phase plan to employ both conventional and unconventional means to affect reunification: (1) create a military-industrial base in North Korea; (2) neutralize the United States by subverting and destroying the U.S.-South Korea alliance; and (3) liberate South Korea through employment of insurgency and conventional force.

Despite a period of increased tension, violent clashes, and much bloodshed during 1966-69, the North Korean military strategy ultimately failed to achieve its goals of breaking the U.S.-South Korean alliance or creating an armed revolution in South Korea. However, Pyongyang’s strategic objective of reunification remained unchanged, and by the 1970s, North Korean leaders modified their military strategy to adopt a more conventional approach.

A long history of bloody incursions into South Korea underscores the offensive mission of the KPA. It is important to note that from 1954 to 1992, North Korea is reported to have infiltrated a total of 3,693 armed agents into South Korea. Not counting North Korea’s invasion of South Korea that triggered the Korean War (1950-53) North Korea’s major terrorist involvement includes: attempted assassinations of ROK President Park Chung Hee in 1968 and 1974; a 1983 attempt on ROK President Chun Doo Hwan’s life in a bombing incident in Rangoon, Burma (Myanmar); and a midair sabotage bombing of a South Korean Boeing 707 passenger plane in 1987.

Provocations have continued intermittently up to 2003 in the form of armed incursions, kidnappings, and occasional as well as regular conventional threats to turn the South Korean capital of Seoul into “a sea of fire” and to silence or tame South Korean critics of North Korea.

By 2003, according to USFK estimates, there had been 1,439 major provocations and DMZ violations since 1953 with 90 U.S. troops killed in action (KIA), over 390 ROK KIA (to include six Republic of Korea [ROK] Navy seaman killed by an unprovoked attack by North Korea in June 2002); and 889 North Korean KIA. These are not acts that one would expect from a country concerned with defense but rather with implementing an offensive national military strategy.

Military-First Doctrine. Militarism has remained an essential aspect of the character of North Korea since its founding in 1948 and constitutes a key element of the strategic culture of the government. North Korean military doctrine further evolved from an element of national power to coexist as an element of political power. On March 21, 2003, Nodong Sinmun published a special article "Military-First Ideology Is an Ever-Victorious, Invincible Banner for Our Era’s Cause of Independence," which declared that the KPA is the basis of North Korea’s political revolutionary strategy.

The character of the KPA high command has changed since Kim Jong Il came to power. While members of the first (partisan) generation still hold posts of power, the day-to-day management of the military has begun to shift to second (senior officers in their 60s) and third generations. The era of a single senior military figure tied closely to the party and the Great Leader has been replaced by a system in which control with the KPA is more dispersed, and many channels lead back to Kim Jong Il. In this way, Kim has been able to secure his control over the military, a goal that is ultimately at the heart of “military-first politics.” Third generation will serve to protect Kim Jong Il but may also ultimately become his biggest political threat. This strategy "calls for giving priority to military issues over everything, and it is a line, strategy, and tactics of putting the KPA before the working class" to the point that the KPA is "the most pivotal (political) group" in North Korean society.

North Korea’s military-first policy is ever-present and plays many multidimensional roles as an important economic actor in agriculture, infrastructure construction, research and development, professional education, weapons sales, and hard currency earning. It is the major ideological educator, socializer of the youth, and general backbone of the society.

Finally, this policy is the principal veto power in all policy deliberations, let alone as the military defender of the nation and the principal guarantor of the regime survival. To begin economic reforms with North Korea, the policy was driven by the pure self-preservation instinct, not based on Marxist-Leninist ideology.

Without the support of the top military leaders, Kim Jong Il alone could not have made a strategic decision to conduct what one of the authors has dubbed economic “reform around the edges.” What seems to be important is that the KPA was elevated to be the primary actor in the country whereas the more conservative KWP was relegated to be the secondary actor in restructuring the North Korean state and building a “great powerful and prosperous nation.”

One of the hallmarks of the Kim Jong Il era has been the evolution of power away from the KWP and toward the KPA. In the wake of the revision of the 1998 constitution, there was a dramatic reshuffling of the official leadership rankings with members of the NDC beginning to overtake Politburo and Secretariat members.

Moreover, the principal reason why some foreign observers do not believe that the economic reforms undertaken by North Korea represent a fundamental transformation in Pyongyang’s thinking is precisely the military-first policy, the dominant role that the KPA still plays in the North Korean decision-making process, and the belief that the military-first policy precludes any constructive resolution in major diplomatic overtures such as the nuclear negotiations.

Military Doctrine. KPA military doctrine began as a hybridization of Chinese and Soviet concepts. North Korean military doctrine further evolved from lessons learned from global confrontations such as the ArabIsraeli conflicts, the Vietnam War, Kosovo, Operation DESERT STORM, and more recently, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.

Throughout the last 70 years, North Korea’s military has learned that it cannot necessarily depend on China or Russia to be there to assist with its development and operations. Although China and Russia provide some support today, they appear to support North Korea as a counterbalance to the U.S. presence in South Korea.

This is another primary tenet of the Juche ideology of self-sufficiency that North Korea has developed regarding all phases of its military from doctrine development to weapons and ammunition production. This doctrine has evolved through as many as four stages since the founding of the KPA in February 1948. North Korean military writings derive from Marxism-Leninism through the conduit of "Kim Il Sung Thought." Kim Il Sung is credited with virtually everything in North Korean military thought, from Lenin’s reformulation of Clausewitz’ classic definition of war to basic squad tactics. Reportedly, Kim Jong Il also is putting his name to several documents which credit him with military doctrine formulation.

North Korean military thinking began as a mixture of Soviet strategic and Chinese tactical influences tempered by guerrilla warfare. From 1951 to December 1962, North Korean military orthodoxy was a conventional warfare doctrine based on Soviet military doctrine and operational art modified on the basis of the Korean War experience. Soviet Stalinist factors that determine the course and outcome of war were incorporated directly into North Korean military doctrine.

In 1962, North Korea’s confidence in the Soviet Union was severely degraded after it witnessed the Soviet acquiescence to the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Union voted in December 1962 to suspend military and economic assistance to the DPRK because of ideological differences. Kim Il Sung realized that North Korea’s hopes of stalwart Soviet support for any North Korean military endeavors would be minimal unless it served the well-being of the Soviet Union. Of course, Kim should have learned this from Stalin during World War II and the Korean War.

Thus, North Korean military doctrine shifted dramatically away from the doctrine of regular warfare to a doctrine that embraced people’s war. Kim Il Sung espoused the Four Military (guide) Lines: (1) to arm the entire population; (2) to fortify the entire country; (3) to train the entire army as a "cadre army"; and (4) to modernize weaponry, doctrine, and tactics under the principle of Juche in national defense. The adoption of this military line signaled a shift from a Sovietstyle strategy to a Maoist protracted war of attrition. Conventional warfare strategy was incorporated into and subordinated to the overall concept of the people’s war concept with the mobilization of the entire country through reinforcement of ideological training.

In 1965-67, Soviet military assistance was reinstated which allowed for the KPA to resume a delayed modernization program. In 1966, North Korea determined that a peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula could not be attained without active guerrilla action in South Korea. Kim Il Sung announced the abandonment of the policy of seeking to unify Korea by peaceful means and the adoption of a new, more militant policy toward South Korea.

Combined Operations and “Two-Front War.” Kim’s speech formed the basis of two new doctrines, “combined operations” and “two-front war.” The combined operations doctrine called for the integration of guerrilla warfare operations with conventional KPA ground force operations. The two-front war doctrine called for close coordination of conventional frontline operations with guerrilla and special operations deep within South Korea.

In the early 1970s, the Soviet-trained officers of the KPA were developing the “Two Front War.” As they envisioned it, a very large conventional force — greatly reinforced with artillery, armor, and mechanized forces, employing surprise attack, speed, and a short violent campaign — would break through the DMZ, envelop and destroy South Korean forward forces, and rapidly overrun the entire peninsula. This operation would be facilitated by a second front composed of SOF infiltrated deep into the South Korean strategic rear to destroy, neutralize, or disrupt South Korean and U.S. air operations; command, control, and communications; and lines of communications. Throughout the 1970s, in the first of a two-phased force expansion plan, North Korea emphasized the commitment of scarce resources, development of industry, and military expansion and reorganization necessary to create such a force.

However, as time moved on, North Korea’s ability to conduct such a dual operation successfully becomes less and less viable. South Korean acquisition of military hardware (both quality and modern), significantly improved weapon and sensor technology, and urbanization, coupled with presence of U.S. forces, precision munitions, counter-battery fire, and bunkerbusting bombs has diminished North Korea’s chances of a military reunification with control under Kim Jong Il.

However, possibly to counter this, North Korea is developing asymmetric capabilities with its SOF and WMD (discussed later). There are no indications that North Korea does not intend to fully commit itself to occupying the peninsula, all the way to Pusan. Thus, North Korea may have reversed the roles of the massive conventional forces along the DMZ and the Second Front Special Purpose forces.

The 70 percent of the KPA forces massed along the DMZ may be a feint to “fix” South Korean forces along the Forward Edge of the Battle Area (FEBA), while the SOF conducts its unconventional and guerrilla operations in the South. Only when North Korea deems the time right would expected conventional attacks by KPA ground forces over the DMZ occur. These forces also would have to secure South Korean logistics to sustain the main effort since North Korea’s ability to do this is suspect. North Korea would not commit its main effort if Kim Jong Il did not feel it would win a total victory. However, North Korean miscalculations could lead to a failed offensive into South Korea which could result in a limited option plan for North Korea.

Lessons learned from the Vietnam War and the Arab-Israeli War of 1967 served as the foundation for the establishment of the KPA’s three pillared military strategy — surprise attack, quick decisive war, and mixed tactics. North Korea observed that during the Vietnam War, North Vietnam was able to counter a technologically superior force successfully, using aspects of special operations forces and psychological operations. The shift supplied the doctrinal basis for North Korea’s strategy of covert infiltrations into South Korea, assassinations, and attempts at fostering insurgencies in South Korea during the late 1960s. The 1966-69 period was characterized as a period of low-intensity conflict as scenes from an unfinished war.

During the 1970s, Soviet military thinking continued to dominate KPA strategy and doctrine development, especially the nature of modern warfare. This new concept adopted a three-dimensional aspect, with no distinction between front and rear, highly mobile, and increasingly dependent upon mechanization, task organization, and improved engineer capabilities.

During 1972, doctrine and strategy were refined further as “enabling North Korean forces to smash the enemy strategically and tactically by either integrating or combining the following: large unit and small unit operations; the experiences of the guerrilla units and modern military technology; guerrilla and modern war tactics; strong guerrilla activities and national popular resistance.” Kim Il Sung understood the power of insurgency as a lesson learned from the Vietnam war, and this probably has been reinforced by Kim Jong Il per observations of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Although the U.S. Intelligence Community has been concentrating on its analysis of SOF in recent years, often the enormity of the conventional KPA receives the emphasis of operational planning while the guerrilla or unconventional warfare aspect of North Korean military doctrine is overlooked.

Beginning in the early 1980s, North Korea began execution of its force expansion and reorganization plan. The ground forces had increased from 720,000 in 1980 to 950,000 by 1994. Forward-deployed forces (those within 100km, or about 60 miles, of the DMZ) had increased from 40 percent to 70 percent of total troop strength.

Eventually, the primacy of conventional warfare again became doctrine which conceptualized and influenced North Korean operational art in the early 1990s; particularly influential are the concepts that emphasize the importance of operational and tactical mobility through the employment of mechanized forces, of firepower throughout the depth of the battlefield (North Korea designed and produced the 170mm gun, battle tested in the Iran/Iraq war, and the 240mm multiple rocket launcher to provide the KPA with a deep strike capability, which the North Korean Air Force does not provide), of deep strikes, and of command and control. Kim also stressed that each operational plan and campaign should aim at a lightning war for a quick decision.

Fall of the Soviet Union. The end of communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union left Pyongyang without any significant ideological allies save China but also without essential economic and military assistance. Beginning in 1990, North Korea embarked on a comprehensive 5-year program to prepare the nation for war without outside assistance. This war preparation campaign was much broader and more rigorous than any previous effort. Improvement of the KPA’s capabilities was an important element of this campaign, which included reorganization, redeployment, and reinforcement, as well as quantitative and qualitative increases in training at all echelons.

After analyzing the 1991 Gulf War, North Korea increased its construction of underground facilities (command and control sites, logistics to include POL storage, military housing, and equipment such as artillery) to protect against the precision of U.S. weaponry allowing for the assembly of KPA military equipment and personnel in protected, underground facilities. Today, North Korea possesses as many as 10,000 such facilities.

North Korea has understood the importance of hardening its facilities from the Korean experience in World War II when Korean slave workers constructed underground bunkers for the Japanese military, including the Imperial Navy’s headquarters in Naha, Okinawa. However, from the end of the Korean War through Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, North Korea has understood the operational and tactical implications that its underground facilities provide from countering adversarial intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) to minimizing the impact of precision munitions.

The 1999 Kosovo War provided North Korea with another opportunity to evaluate U.S. military operations in an area with terrain and weather similar to that of the Korean Peninsula, which included studying the adverse effects that this terrain and weather had upon the U.S. high-tech arsenal. Today, these doctrines and strategies continue to be recalibrated to reflect changing capabilities and weapon acquisition. While ROK and U.S. analysts describe the KPA’s offensive strategy for a war of reunification as “blitzkrieg (lightning war),” the KPA represents its “two-front war” and “combined operations” strategies somewhat differently. North Korea will use a massive attack across the DMZ, utilizing overwhelming firepower and violence known as a “One Blow Non-stop Attack.” Concurrent with this will be limited use of chemical weapons against targets within the forward area; ballistic missile strikes (some armed with chemical warheads) against ROK and U.S. airbases, ports, and C3I assets throughout the ROK; operations by hundreds of SOF units; offensive naval mine employment and intelligence agents throughout the ROK creating a “second front;” and special operations forces and intelligence agent attacks against U.S. bases in Japan and Okinawa.

This military strategy also relies heavily on a surprise attack strategy which is very reminiscent of Sun Tzu: attacking the enemy at an unexpected time and place and by employing unexpected means, it can maximize time, speed, and secrecy. This strategy, coupled with an effective deception plan, is believed to yield maximum effects with minimum efforts. North Korean elements of its surprise attack include: (1) utilizing inclement weather, hours of darkness, and rugged terrain; (2) developing clever deception plans; (3) employing skilled infiltration teams (or resident sleeper agents); (4) conducting seaborne, air assault and parachute operations; (5) setting mass fires (this element of surprise allows for mine fields to be cleared quickly in the DMZ area as well as creating a diversion in an urban setting); (6) quickly concentrating the effects of combat power at a decisive area; and (7) employing large-scale mechanized units.

Occupying South Korea, All the Way to Pusan. The goals of this strategy are to move southward as quickly as possible, surround Seoul, gaining control of the ROK strategic rear area (especially airbases and ports), preventing reinforcement of the peninsula by U.S. and other allied forces, and inflicting as much damage as possible upon U.S. forces. In 1992, Kim Jong Il reportedly authored the plan as “Occupying South Korea, All the Way to Pusan in Three Days.”

The KPA leadership understands that, while it is unrealistic to believe they can occupy the ROK in 3 days, they do believe that if the political and military conditions are favorable, the KPA can achieve this goal within 3-4 weeks. The key has always been the race between occupying the peninsula and U.S. reinforcement/resupply. North Korea probably observed between Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait and the U.S.-led coalition counterattack, it took 5 1/2 months. However, the most important point to be made is that Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait in a matter of hours. It took a U.S.-led coalition to win the country back.

North Korean leaders remember and have attempted to adapt to what they learned in 1950, that the United States and its United Nations (UN) allies stabilized the military situation on the Korean peninsula within 1 month after the KPA surprise attack, conducted a complex amphibious landing in 2 1/2 months, and conquered the enemy’s homeland in 4 months. North Korea never totally controlled the entire peninsula.

North Korean leaders saw the demise of the Soviet Union as primarily the result of Gorbachev’s “New Thinking,” which included the shift of the Soviet Union’s military strategy to “defensive defense.” A shift similar in North Korea will not happen as long as North Korea continues to maintain its strategic objectives of reunification and regime survival. Pyongyang cannot abandon its offensive military strategy.

The Role of Special Purpose Forces (including SOF). A dominant element of the KPA is its Special Purpose Forces. Unconventional warfare and the various aspects of North Korean military doctrine dictate the utilization of these forces in all aspects of the KPA’s doctrine and strategy. In any attempt to unify the peninsula by military means, these forces probably will be most critical in achieving success for the KPA.

Since the 1960s, North Korea increasingly has developed its SOF manpower (see Figure 5). These forces, which include the KPA special operations force (SOF), are the world’s largest, enjoy the highest military funding priority for the regime, and are tough, well-trained, and profoundly loyal. It is extremely difficult to determine the actual manpower count for SOF because of its nature. North Korea maintains SOF because of its nature. North Korea maintains 122,000 troops, with between 80,000 and 100,000 probably adjudged to be SOF. This significant increase signals the probable intentions of North Korea to use these forces in the fight for the rear area as the First Front.

Note: Compiled by authors from various sources.

Figure 5. North Korean soF Force Development.

The actual purpose for this large build-up of these elite forces is unknown. However, these SOF probably deal with the internal requirements of maintaining the military-first policy and the external requirements. North Korea’s special purpose forces are unique and do not mirror-image Chinese or Russian forces. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) previously has reported that these KPA special forces have welldeveloped skills of repelling, mountain climbing, swimming, martial arts, airborne and amphibious landing instruction, demolition, and rigorous physical fitness that is complemented by their mental training that includes individual initiative, creativity, flexibility, and aggressiveness — similar to those associated with elite units throughout the world.

North Korean SOF fall into many different categories: ranger/commando, light infantry, airborne, sniper/strategic assassination, SEAL, reconnaissance, amphibious assault/naval infantry/marine, agent infiltration and intelligence operative. North Korean SOF are associated with conventional warfare, unrestricted warfare, unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare, partisan warfare, asymmetric warfare, and insurgency.

Evolution of North Korean Special Purpose Forces. North Korean Special Purpose Forces retain their roots and history from Kim Il Sung’s first military experiences and have evolved as KPA military doctrine has evolved. Figure 5 shows the numerical development of SOF manpower from the 1960s through the present. In 1958, Kim Il Sung began to define the role of the KPA’s emerging SOF when he issued his “Instruction to Reconnaissance Troops.” His instructions included training under every type of weather and seasonal condition to include day and night physical training in the mountains; arming themselves with solid party ideology; being able to fight in the enemy’s rearguard; acquiring the ability to destroy airfields, “atomic guns” (probably a reference to perceived U.S. artillery deployed in the South with a nuclear ordnance capability — it does show North Korea’s awareness and targeting of such systems if they did exist), bridges, tunnels, and locomotives; operating airplanes, automobiles, and trains; operating ocean-going and river ships and boats; and being adept swimmers.

The early 1960s reflected a time of civil unrest and military vulnerabilities in South Korea. Large student uprisings forced the resignation of the Syngman Rhee government and enabled the ROK military under the leadership of Park Chung Hee to assume power through a coup d’état. The DPRK’s failure to be prepared and capable to exploit these vulnerabilities resulted in reorganization and modernization of the KPA which included intelligence gathering and North Korea-sponsored anti-ROK operations.

Between 1965 and 1968, the KPA developed the light infantry regiment class of infantry units. This regiment would receive training and equipment for its new warfare missions. It consisted of approximately 1,300-1,800 troops, responsible for conducting guerrilla warfare and special operations within the army group’s area of responsibility.

Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, the KPA had only a limited amphibious warfare capability. Most of the KPA maritime lift was conducted by fishing boats, junks, sampans, and a few conventional amphibious warfare craft. The North Koreans had a history of using nontraditional methods to conduct amphibious operations. For example, on June 25, 1950 a ROKN patrol craft sank a 1,000 ton armed North Korean steamer with 600 KPA troops embarked, attempting to land near Pusan. The significance of this operation has been lost, since all the attention has been given to North Korea’s offensive thrust down South Korea’s main road along the east coast. If the 600 troops had landed successfully near Pusan, the outcome of the war could have been drastically altered. This forgotten operation reveals Kim Il Sung’s doctrine of using a rear attack to support his main effort.

Early in 1968, the DPRK once again revealed its resolve to use its SOF to achieve its missions by using a 31-man assault team to attempt to assassinate the President of South Korea. It was believed that the death of the President would result in civil unrest allowing for the “revolution in the south” to begin with KPA assistance. Dressed in ROK Army uniforms, the North Korean SOF team infiltrated South Korea through the DMZ. On January 21, 1968, the team proceeded to the Presidential residence, the Blue House, to kill the president and any other civilians encountered. However, the team was discovered and engaged by ROK National Police. All of the North Korean commandos were killed, but two of the team reportedly escaped back to North Korea without being captured. Twenty-seven ROK personnel were killed, with 65 ROK wounded. This act was eclipsed quickly in U.S. thinking by the attack and capture of the USS Pueblo two days later by the Korean People’s Navy and Air Force units.

VIII Special Corps. Because of the failures of this attack and other large commando operations targeting South Korea during the late 1960s, North Korea established the VIII Special Corps. North Korean partisan generals were purged, special warfare and intelligence assets were reorganized, and policy was reformulated. Rather than guerrilla warfare, political subversion, with selected use of military special operations, now became the policy to be pursued against South Korea. This would be complemented by a dramatic increase in support for “international revolution” and the struggle against imperialism (i.e., revolution and terrorism) as an indirect means of striking at both the ROK and the United States. In 1969, Kim Il Sung emphasized the “study of combining regular and irregular warfare, and of mountain warfare.”

Kim Il Sung stated that there would be a unique strategic approach based upon “light infantry units,” which had the capability of conducting “all forms of combat.” This was a pivotal point in the development of the KPA’s special warfare forces. Prior to this, guerrilla warfare was the primary mission which received the bulk of support and funding. Now these units would be responsible for a broader, more balanced range of unconventional and special warfare operations. Prolonged political subversion and intelligence collection became the primary mission. In 1970, SOF personnel strength was estimated at 15,000. This figure dramatically increased to 41,000 by 1978 and to 80,000 by 1984.

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, DPRK continued to conduct infiltration and special operations against the ROK. These missions did not have the same lethality that those in the 1960s had. KPA SOF utilized overland but preferred seaborne insertion methods such as using high-speed infiltration craft; however, all attempted to exfiltrate via land through the DMZ.

By the late 1970s, the term “special purpose forces” was coined to describe those KPA units that possessed ranger/commando- and special forces-type capabilities, as well as capabilities for unconventional warfare and special operations.

From 1970 to 1980, at least six infiltration teams were engaged and killed or destroyed. However, in 1974, Kim Il Sung still sent assassination teams to kill ROK President Park Chung Hee, all failing in their attempts (although they did kill Park’s wife).

In 1982-83, North Korea implemented a series of organizational changes which reorganized the intelligence and internal security services and separated MPAF from the State Administration Council and placed it under the CMC (which later evolved into the NDC). During this organization, programs to mechanize and modernize the KPA as well as cultivate the KPA’s special warfare assets, and the capabilities of the Reconnaissance Bureau and VIII Special Corps were developed and implemented.

In 1984-85, the KPAF acquired 87 Hughes MD500 Defender helicopters which were repainted with ROKAF paint schemes. Thus reconfigured, these helicopters would prove significantly useful in any operations against the ROK.

In the 1980s, the KPA began to improve and increase its airborne and seaborne lift capabilities. In 1987, KPA amphibious warfare (which included new amphibious doctrine and industrial production) began constructing high-speed air-cushion landing craft (speeds up to 52 knots and carrying 40-50 troops) which significantly improved the KPA’s amphibious assault capability, especially into the ROK rear areas which have large mud flats.

During the early 1990s, the VIII Special Corps was renamed the Light Infantry Training and Guidance Bureau. The special purpose forces continued to expand during this period from 85,000 troops organized into 22 brigades in 1990 to approximately 100,000 troops organized into 25 brigades in 1996.

Foreign Military Assistance Using SOF Assets. From 1969-89, the DPRK expanded its foreign military assistance to a number of developing countries and to its support for terrorist and revolutionary groups. Personnel from the VIII Special Corps and Reconnaissance Bureau provided the majority of the advisors sent overseas on military assistance missions and would serve as instructors and trainers to terrorist and revolutionary groups both overseas and within the DPRK. As late as 1995, the DPRK invited members of the terrorist organization Abu Nidal to North Korea and continued to support rebel groups in the Philippines.

Beginning in 1990, several organizational changes occurred within the DPRK that enhanced Kim Jong Il’s control over the KPA and affected both the VIII Special Corps and the intelligence services. The first was the establishment of the NDC and the transferring of MPAF to the NDC. On December 24, 1991, Kim Jong Il was appointed supreme commander of the KPA, and 1 year later, he was appointed chairman of the NDC. Because of Kim Jong Il’s moves, the death of Kim Il Sung in 1994 had minimal observable effect on the special forces or even the KPA in general.

SOF Missions. Today, KPA Special Purpose Forces have evolved the following missions:

 Seizure or destruction of (enemy) strategic/ theater and global command, control, communications, and intelligence (C3I), missile, radar, and nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) warfare assets.

 Interdiction, seizure, or control of strategic targets (air bases, naval bases, port facilities, POL facilities, lines of communications, and nuclear power plants within [ROK] rear areas).

 Raids against U.S. Air Force and Navy bases in Japan and Okinawa and conceivably against military installations in Guam, Hawaii and the continental United States.

 Seizure of critically important topographic features (mountain passes, tunnels, bridges, etc.) and civilian facilities (railroads, highways, airports, power plants, etc.).

 Interdiction, seizure, and control of ROK/U.S. lines of communications, for the interdiction of reinforcements and supplies for forces deployed along the DMZ, and in advance of, or in support of, regular ground force operations.

 Targeting for long-range artillery.

 Establishing intelligence networks in the ROK.

 Creating insurgency in the ROK, recruiting and controlling insurgent forces (a Primary Second Front Mission).

 Targeting reconnaissance for DPRK WMD (e.g., ballistic missiles and chemical weapons, and possibly nuclear devices).

 Covert delivery of biological weapons.

 Assassination or abduction of ROK political leaders and senior ROK/U.S. military commanders.

 Strategic reconnaissance and the provision of timely and accurate intelligence to the General Staff Department and corps commanders.

 Kidnapping and diversionary operations.

 Establishing military and political intelligence nets within the ROK and fostering the growth of guerrilla forces.

 Military training to foreign revolutionary organizations, organizations.

 Military assistance, training, and internal security for Kim’s inner circle (to include body guards and palace guards),

 Assisting friendly governments and organizations (e.g., Nicaragua, Zimbabwe, PLO, and Burundi).

SOF forces can conduct operations at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. During offensive operations, SOF reconnaissance units would conduct penetration (into enemy territory) missions to collect military intelligence and launch raids on military and civilian targets. Prior to the main attack, some units would infiltrate behind enemy lines by air and sea, while others would cross into the ROK through tunnels under the DMZ or along the mountain ridges.

The Special Purpose Forces Command is organized into eight sniper brigades, with two amphibious brigades and two airborne brigades; and 12 light infantry brigades, with three airborne brigades, 17 reconnaissance battalions, one airborne battalion, and eight Bureau of Reconnaissance SOF battalions. The only organization controlling SOF units is the Reconnaissance Bureau and the Light Infantry Training and Guidance Bureau (formerly the VIII Special Purpose Corps). The Reconnaissance Bureau is composed of five departments, a number of operational units and reconnaissance brigades, and shares some of the responsibility for training and dispatching espionage and subversive agents to the south, with the Liaison and Operations Departments. It maintains a training center, the 907th Army Unit, to train South Korean Army personnel who have been abducted, or have defected to North Korea.

The Light Infantry Training Guidance Bureau is the primary organization within the KPA tasked with the training and conducting of unconventional (asymmetric) and special warfare operations. During peacetime, it is believed to exercise administrative control over all special operations units, including those of the North Korean Air Force and Navy (the Air Force and Navy will be discussed below) and Reconnaissance Bureau. During wartime, it will function as the primary headquarters coordinating all special operations.

The following example of a failed KPA Special Purpose Forces operation reflects, in part, their mission and capabilities:

 In 1996, a KPA Reconnaissance Bureau operation failed when a KPN SANGO-class submarine ran aground off the east coast of the ROK during the retrieval of a 26-man sniper brigade team. Two members of this team successfully eluded a massive (more than 16,000 ROK Army troops) search and capture operation for 49 days before being located and killed. A third sniper team member eventually escaped back to the DPRK across the DMZ. Twenty-three members of the team and crew of the submarine accepted death as more honorable than capture, indicative of the KPA dedication and political indoctrination.

This supreme dedication to their leadership and their country is a very important element that must be considered. The unconventional warfare (small unit) aspect of North Korea’s offensive strategy is essential to winning the decisive fight and to achieving victory.

KPA Conventional Capabilities. Measured by the number of personnel in uniform, North Korea possesses the world’s fourth largest military. But this ranking fails to capture the high level of militarization in the DPRK. Most men and some women (approximately 10 percent of the KPA are women) between the ages of 17 and 25 serve legally for 42-48 months, but most stay at least 10 years (for women, it is normally 6-8 years). However, their commitment is then transferred from active duty to a reserve, defense industry factory, or security aspect of the government.

Ground. With approximately 1 million active-duty troops, the KPA ground forces are the largest and most formidable of the KPA’s components. The size, organization, and combat capabilities of the ground forces provide the DPRK with substantial defensive and offensive capabilities.

The active-duty KPA ground forces are comprised of 19 corps-level units including nine corps, four mechanized corps, one tank corps, one artillery corps, the Pyongyang Defense Command, Border Guard Command, Missile Guidance Bureau and the Light Infantry Instruction Guidance Bureau (previously discussed).

During the past 20 years the KPA has initiated a comprehensive program involving the reorganization, reequipping, and forward redeployment of ground forces units, as well as the complete restructuring and upgrading of reserve forces and the rear area command structure. Notable improvements include the reorganization of a number of motorized infantry divisions and mechanized brigades into mechanized corps, and the production and deployment of new tanks and long-range self-propelled artillery systems.

Today, the KPA is assessed to have an aggregate of 3500 main battle tanks, 6560 armored fighting vehicles, and 10,400 field artillery (including multiplerocket launchers), as well as large array of air-defense artillery systems (almost 16,000 pieces).

The KPA’s concept of “mechanization” is different from that currently used by the ROK or U.S. military forces. With regard to infantry forces, “mechanization” is designed to provide rapid protected movement to combat. The vast majority of the KPA’s mechanized infantry forces will travel via trucks or armored personnel carriers (APC), not infantry fighting vehicles. Once these KPA units arrive at their destination, they will debark and fight as conventional infantry. However, the KPA has enhanced the mobility of its infantry forces and the protection of its tanks, self-propelled artillery and self-propelled anti-aircraft systems, not the acquisition of large quantities of armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles. Thus, anywhere from 40-60 percent of any KPA mechanized infantry unit actually is truck mobile.

During the past 20 years, the KPA has attempted to improve the organization and equipment of its ground forces. This has been accomplished during a period of deepening economic crisis which has limited access to foreign equipment and precipitated fuel shortages, and restricting training and operations.

Further complicating this effort has been a series of natural disasters such as typhoons, floods, and famines that have affected every aspect of life within the DPRK. Despite preferential treatment when compared to the general population, the effects of these domestic crises on the KPA ground component have been significant, especially upon units deployed within the rear areas.

There have been frequent reports of serious shortages of food, fuel, winter clothes, and other military supplies for KPA troops. Soldiers are mobilized for various labor requirements outside of the military, such as factory, farming, or construction to meet statedictated quotas, in addition to their various military exercises, to earn foreign currency and supplement their shortage in food. Morale and discipline problems cannot help but increase, training has decreased, and some units would have difficulty maintaining operational readiness.

Navy. The Korean People’s Navy (KPN) maintains approximately 46,000 personnel, and its combat ship approximately 46,000 personnel, and its combat ship 800 ships, which rank the KPN as one of the world’s largest navies. The KPN’s world rating is only a qualitative number. The ROKN may have a lower figure of ships in its inventory (approximately 260 ships, including submarines), but it maintains superiority on total tonnage and weapon and sensor technology. For example, the largest ships in the KPN inventory are the SOHO-class (1,845 tons) and two NAJIN-class Light Frigates (FFLs) (1,500 tons each). Compare these ships with the newest ROKN ships, such as the Kwangaeto-class DDHs which are 3,900 tons each (three units). South Korea has begun initial production of a KDX-III destroyer which will incorporate phased array radar technology and state-of-the art weapons.

North Korea is assessed to have approximately 88 submarines, the world’s largest submarine fleet, which is capable of slowing force generation through naval mine laying, anti-ship torpedoes, and SOF interdiction. Production of a coastal submarine, the SANG-0 (meaning shark) class reportedly continues.

The majority of the KPN’s fleet is comprised of torpedo boat-size hulls which are from 60 to 200 tons. Other small surface combatants include patrol boats, patrol craft, and fast attack craft (which have a variety of ground weapons mounted on them such as 85/100mm tank turrets or 122 mm rocket launchers) — actually designed as sea-going artillery.

The navy’s most capable weapons systems are their guided-missile patrol boats (over 30) equipped with the SS-N-2A Styx anti-ship missile. Though their small size limits operations to coastal waters and calm seas, they have the capability to respond quickly to ships approaching the coast.

Since 2000, the KPN has continued to modify existing vessels and construct small numbers of patrol boats, coastal submarines, hovercraft, and specialized infiltration craft. Details concerning these developments are not currently available.

The peacetime missions of the KPN include:

 Defense of DPRK territorial waters and coasts;

 Seaborne insertion of intelligence agents and special operations forces;

 North Korean coastal surveillance; and,

 Protection and control of coastal shipping and fishing operations.

During wartime, the KPN would be tasked with amphibious lift and fire-support operations, support to KPA ground force units, naval mine warfare (both offensive and defensive), interdiction of enemy shipping in waters adjacent to the Korean peninsula, and rear area security.

The KPN is divided into two fleets, the Yellow Sea Fleet (west coast fleet) and the East Sea Fleet (east coast fleet). The Supreme Naval Headquarters is located in Pyongyang and controls both. These fleets have not been detected exchanging ships, probably because of geographical limitations which make mutual support almost impossible.

The KPN maintains a significant coastal amphibious capability in which there are three types of amphibious operations: (1) strategic — a multi-battalion operation; (2) operational — at battalion, company, or platoon strength; and (3) tactical (Sniper/ Special Operations) — from company down to squad or team. The KPN has a variety of amphibious lift craft to include approximately 135 Kong Bang (literally meaning “air bag”) class hovercrafts which can carry approximately 40 troops (no vehicles) and travel at speeds of 40 knots, as well as over 100 other types of amphibious ships. The KPA has the capability to transport approximately 15,000 troops by sea at one time, but doctrinally probably would use a handful of hovercrafts for small unit amphibious raids.

The KPN has a credible mine warfare capability which was first developed in the Korean War. Numerous surface ships and submarines are capable of delivering mines within both the navy and civilian sectors (merchant ships, fishing boats). Mines will be used to defend against amphibious assaults, defend strategic ports, and provide seaward flank protection for land forces. The KPN has a large inventory of outdated technological mines; although the total number of mines is unknown, it is assessed that North Korea has enough to satisfy their military objectives. Despite economic crises engulfing the country, limited access to modern technical equipment from abroad and fuel shortages which have restricted training and operations, the KPN still maintains the capability to conduct limited offensive and defensive wartime operations.

The KPN’s experiences with operating an inventory of both midget and coastal submarines and amphibious hovercraft provide it with the wartime ability to interdict commercial shipping to and from the ROK, particularly in the East Sea (Sea of Japan), and to conduct sub- stantial amphibious lift and limited mine laying operations. The KPN’s limited abilities to operate at night and in bad weather, as well as technical weaknesses in EW, SIGINT, ASW, and shipborne air defense capabilities, portend that the advanced weaponry and combined operations capabilities of the USN and ROKN, together with coalition air supremacy, would render the vast majority of the KPN’s surface combatants ineffective. However, the total numbers of KPN craft probably would create an allied logistic ordnance nightmare in providing the munitions needed to engage all of these ships.

KPN midget and coastal submarine operations undoubtedly would prove more problematic for the USN and ROKN and would likely survive for a considerable time. The KPN is primarily a capable coastal defense force when coupled with land-based coastal defense assets (artillery, surface-to-surface coastal cruise missiles, defensive mining).

The KPA, to include KPN forces, has taken on the U.S. Navy successfully with the capture of the USS Pueblo and the tragic shoot down of a USN EC-121 reconnaissance aircraft, with no measured U.S. military reaction against the KPN forces. Undoubtedly, the KPN uses this as a morale booster.

Air Force. The missions of the Korean People’s Air Force (KPAF) include:

 Air and air defense of the homeland,

 Tactical air support to the army and the navy,

 Transportation and logistical support, and

 Airborne insertion of special operations forces.

The KPAF has been reported to have over 100,000 personnel and an inventory of as many as 1-200-1,700 aircraft, and it controls and operates all aircraft (including the national airline — Air Koryo; there are no NK civilian aircraft), airfields, and airports within the DPRK. The KPAF retains a numerically significant inventory of Soviet and Chinese designed aircraft that date back to the 1950s and 1960s. However, in the late 1980s, Russia supplied a limited number of modern allweather air defense and ground-attack aircraft (MiG29’s).

Interceptor aircraft are an integral part of the DPRK’s air-defense network. Interceptors routinely fly combat air patrol missions to protect DPRK coastlines, military installations, and key urban areas. Although the KPAF employs dated Soviet and Chinese ground attack aircraft such as the IL-28/Beagle, Su-7/Fitter and MiG-19/Farmer, these aircraft can only operate in daylight and good weather. They only carry small bomb loads for relatively short distances, except for the IL-28 which can carry an air-launched version of the Styx anti-ship cruise missile. As previously discussed, the KPA appears to have replaced the longrange strike capability of its air force with long-range artillery and surface-to-surface missiles.

The KPAF has been successful in intercepting nonNorth Korean aircraft operating near its coastlines. In 1965, two North Korean MiG jet fighters “attacked and damaged” a U.S. RB-47 reconnaissance plane over the East Sea, about 50 miles east of the nearest North Korean coast. In 1969, KPAF North Korean MiG jet fighters shot down an unarmed U.S. EC-121 reconnaissance plane over the East Sea, about 90 miles off the North Korean coast, resulting in the loss of 31 lives.

On March 2, 2003, four KPAF aircraft — two MiG23MLs and two MiG-29As — intercepted a U.S. Air Force RC-135S COBRA BALL reconnaissance aircraft conducting a routine intelligence mission over the East Sea — approximately 130 NM from the DPRK coast. The four aircraft shadowed the RC-135s for approximately 20 minutes, during which they signaled for the aircraft to follow them and land in the DPRK, frequently maneuvering within 20 meters of its wings. The RC135S aborted its mission and returned to its base at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

While politically motivated, the interception of the RC-135S is noteworthy in that the mission showed a considerable degree of pre-mission intelligence collection and planning on the part of the KPAF, as the aircraft were staged from their west coast bases through air bases on the east coast. The MiG-29As came from the 55th Air Regiment based at Sunchon, while the MiG-23s came from the 60th Air Regiment based at Pukchang. It appears that the pilots chosen to perform this mission were among the best available to the KPAF, and it also is likely that, given the potential fallout of the mission, it was expressly approved by Kim Jong Il.

One of the KPAF SOF insertion aircraft reflects the KPA’s use of unsophisticated and dated design features to accommodate limitations in their technology. The AN-2/COLTis a slow-flying biplane that serves well in the role of insertion and extraction of special operations forces. It is rugged and easy to maintain, and can operate within all ranges of Korean climate. It has a cruising speed of 120 knots, but can fly as slow as 35 knots in some cases and is well-suited to flying low, using valleys to hide from radar. Its large wing area and engine allows it to take off from dirt strips in 2,130 feet or from paved surfaces (such as roads or airfields) in just over 1,300 feet. Maximum range for a stock AN2 with a full load is 186 miles, and they normally carry 10 soldiers. Reportedly, KPAF has over 300 AN-2’s and over 300 helicopters in its inventory.

The DPRK’s air defense network is arguably one of the densest in the world today, relying on surfaceto-air missiles (SAMs) systems and massive numbers of mobile and fixed anti-aircraft artillery weapons. The KPAF is responsible for ground air defense of the nation and the ground forces (however, the KPA ground forces maintain tactical air defense weapons to include man portable air defense missiles [MANPADs]. The DPRK’s air defense network is based on obsolete weapons, missiles, and radars; and is most effective at lower altitudes where masses of AAA fire can be brought to bear on an intruder. Medium and high altitude SA-2/3/5 surface-to-air missiles are ineffective in a modern EW environment.

The KPAF is assessed to possess only limited offensive and defensive wartime capabilities. This is based upon the KPAF’s inflexible and unsophisticated command and control system, large numbers of obsolete aircraft, low flight hours, limited access to spare parts for its few modern aircraft, and fuel shortages.

The KPAF is judged to be capable of conducting a surge of offensive operations only during the initial phase of any new war on the Korean Peninsula. It is judged to have only a limited capability of guarding DPRK airspace during peacetime. While the KPAF is numerically superior to the ROK Air Force (ROKAF) and U.S. air components deployed within the Republic of Korea (ROK), it is qualitatively inferior in all aspects.

North Korea has far greater air defense capability on paper than it does in practice. It has not fought in any kind of meaningful air action since the Korean War. North Korean efforts to transfer technology, organization, and training methods from other nations on a patchwork basis often leaves critical gaps in national capability, even where other capabilities are effective.

It is unknown why North Korea has not modernized its air forces. Whether a lack of hard currency (no country will tender credit to North Korea to buy military hardware) or lack of doctrinal emphasis, the KPAF remains a low-tier priority. North Korea probably will rely on the successful operations of its SOF to destroy ROK and U.S. aircraft on the ground. The KPN and SOF will attempt to delay coalition resupply and reinforcement until such time that North Korea has gained its military objectives.

One last reason for the KPAF atrophy may be the reliance on North Korea’s new missiles and WMD capabilities. The KPA may have determined that their growing surface-to-surface missile inventory (800+), as well as their chemical and nuclear capabilities, would be sufficient to counter any enemy air threat.

Paramilitary and Reserve Forces. The establishment of paramilitary and reserve type units within the DPRK dates to the 1950s, although it was not until the early 1960s and the formulation of the Four Military Lines that the DPRK undertook concerted efforts to increase the size, number, and capabilities of such units. The DPRK’s paramilitary reserve forces total almost 7 1/2 million personnel, with approximately 30 percent of the population between the ages of 15 and 60. This sizable force is organized into four primary components: Workers’-Peasants’ Red Guard (WPRG) (more than 4 million personnel); Red Youth Guard (RYG) (more than 1 million high school and college male and female students); Paramilitary Training Unit (PTU) (almost 2 million personnel); and the People’s Guard troops (approximately 400,000 personnel). These reserve forces are estimated to be organized into 40 infantry divisions and 18 infantry brigades.

The PTUs (a.k.a., Reserve Military Training Units, Pacification Units, Guidance Units, Instructional Units, Instruction Guidance Units, or Reserve Units) are the primary ready reserve force of the MPAF and are capable of being immediately mobilized and incorporated into the KPA in times of war or national emergency. The PTUs have the capability, training, and equipment to execute the following peacetime missions: (1) maintain a trained military force of KPA veterans who can be immediately mobilized and incorporated into the KPA, and (2) provision the security force for large government buildings, facilities, and property.

The WPRG, People’s Guard, and the RYG would take longer to achieve combat readiness and probably would be employed as rear area security units or as reinforcements or replacements for regular KPA units rather then as new combat units.

Beginning during the 1980s, the KPA initiated a series of force improvements to reorganize and revitalize its paramilitary and reserve forces in line with newly developing concepts of wartime operations. These improvements included PTUs acquiring additional artillery. They also were restructured and exercised to facilitate out-of-area operations in support of regular KPA ground forces. Finally, at the MPAF-level (probably now at the NDC-level), a new command structure was created for the wartime mission of rear area defense.

The entire lifecycle of the average North Korean citizen is centered on some sort of military service that begins as a young adult (15 to 17) where they usually serve in the RYG and finish in the WPRG at the age of 60. The net result of this lifelong process is that North Korea is one of the most militarized nations in the world and is a country possessing a trained reserve manpower pool that allows it to expand the size of its active armed forces rapidly in times of national emergency or war.

A secondary effect of this lifelong military service is that it provides an indoctrination that would improve a North Korean insurgency effort significantly, if required. Additionally, the North Korean people may not be as receptive to an “invading” force whose intent is to liberate them from tyranny.

Combat Readiness. Before examining North Korea’s military readiness and capabilities, the definitions of the terms should be clarified. A common analytical mistake occurs when the same metrics used to review U.S. military readiness and capabilities are applied to an adversary.

The objective of the U.S. Army’s readiness reporting system is to measure an organization’s readiness to accomplish its assigned mission — in other words, to measure how ready it is to go to war today, and how effectively it could prosecute the war. These metrics are used to satisfy the U.S. Army’s objectives as they relate to U.S. National Military Strategy and the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review — usually dealing with issues of a global nature. North Korea’s strategic objectives are regional and do not require the same scope of readiness that the U.S. military requires. At one point, the Pentagon considered readiness as only one of four elements or pillars on which military capability rests:

 Force Structure: The number, size, and composition of military units;

 Modernization: The technical sophistication of the forces, weapon systems, and equipment;

 Sustainability: The “staying power” of the forces measured in days; and,

 Readiness: The immediate ability to execute a designated combat mission.

Readiness has been defined in many ways. Some definitions, as Richard Betts pointed out in his book, Military Readiness: Concepts, Choices, Consequences, are fairly broad and synonymous with overall military capabilities — for example, the “balancing of manpower, investment, and operations and maintenance expenditures that produce the force structure capability of rapid, sustained, and ultimate full response.” However, most definitions are narrower, focusing on the ability to respond quickly. For this monograph, the following will be used:

 The ability of forces, units, weapon systems, or equipment to deliver the outputs for which they are designed and to deploy and employ without unacceptable delays.

 The capacity to perform missions when directed to do so.

 A force’s ability to fight with little or no warning.

 The fraction of a force committed to a fight without unacceptable delays and that acquits itself well.

 The ability of the currently configured force structure to perform its assigned missions promptly.

Deliver and Deploy Without Unacceptable Delays. During the Korean War, lack of adequate logistics hampered North Korea’s military forces and kept North Korea from completely controlling the peninsula. Thus, sustainability of the North Korean military forces became a primary requirement, and the country continues to maintain war reserves for all classes of supply for 6 months of sustainability for regular forces and 3 months for reserve units and paramilitary forces. A major increase in the number of active forces and the deployment of many new types of weapons systems in the past 20 years complicate this doctrine; however, North Korea’s massive war reserve stockpiles continue to expand despite the tremendous cost to its economic structure and hardship to its people.

On the negative side of the military-first rule, due to the over-expansion of military roles, the overpoliticization of the KPA, and the “military sprawl” in the North Korean society, the KPA’s primary role, i.e., the military defense of North Korea, probably would be downgraded and downplayed. Despite the KPA’s continuous claim on almost half of the DPRK’s government budget, its resources are still limited and unduly stretched out. As a result, the KPA’s military readiness suffers, and actual military capabilities continue to deteriorate despite the military-first policy.

North Korea expanded its ammunition and equipment storage capacities by building hardened and underground facilities and enlarging existing facilities as well as major national-level storage installations and unit-level storage depots, especially near the DMZ. Current ammunition stockpiles are estimated at over one million tons as well as major military POL war reserves, despite the severe shortage of fuel supplies for the civil economy.

The Nautilus Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology estimates that North Korean fuel consumption for 30 days of full-time combat would be up to 200,000 tons, and it would take 4 months to restock military fuel, given North Korea’s current supply rate, either by bringing in fuel stored in rear areas or from refining new fuel and then moving it into combat zones. However, one of North Korea’s military objectives is to take the entire Korean peninsula within 30 days and it could probably replenish its fuel stocks with the numerous ROK civilian POL gas stations and supply points.

Substantial food and combat ration war reserves are stockpiled, despite widespread starvation and malnourishment in recent years. Information from interviews with North Korean defectors and World Food Program officials suggests that the North Korean food rationing system operates on a priority basis, feeding KWP members and military and police officers while leaving many ordinary people in hunger. Despite its improved harvest in recent years, North Korea still suffers from a chronic food shortage, with the country needing approximately 6 million tons of grain a year to provide basic nutrition for its 22 million people.

Capacity to Perform Missions when Directed. North Korea’s ability and capacity to perform its missions when directed has not changed since the Korean War. A survivor of Pork Chop Hill and Silver Star recipient, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Earle Denton describes the opponent he faced on the Korean peninsula: “The North Korean soldier was a formidable warrior and enemy. He was resourceful and tenacious on the battlefield. He followed orders without deviation and was willing to give his life for mission accomplishment without question. He did not surrender.”

Since the Korean War, the KPA soldier has had no reason to change his ethic on performing his mission. In fact, over 53 years of reinforcement by his chain-of-command concerning the “dark forces in the South” probably has only strengthened the resolve of the KPA.

The KPA currently is judged to be capable of defending the DPRK, conducting special operations against the ROK and Japan, and maintaining internal security. It currently maintains the capability to initiate a war of reunification against the ROK with little warning; however, it has a declining capability to prosecute such a war for an extended period of time.

North Korea has over 200,000 vehicles, 1,000 locomotives, and over 20,000 railcars that are mostly nonmilitary but would be mobilized to support a conflict. Much of this transportation is tied to reserve force units that would provide a substantial part of the logistic support required by military forces and would move personnel, ammunition, and supplies into the ROK during a conflict. Truck transportation units would provide a full range of support. However, shortages in truck transportation could be supplied by North Korean SOF and agent-commandeered ROK civilian trucks which would be plentiful throughout South Korea.

Rail assets would provide heavy-lift capacity to move armor, self-propelled artillery, and resupply from national depots. Merchant and fishery vessels would support naval forces and ground troops along the peninsula’s coastal waters. The civil air transport fleet would be mobilized to carry troops and high-value cargo and possibly to deliver chemical and biological warfare agents.

However, the KPA would still be hard-pressed to provide logistic sustainment to KPA troops operating well south of the DMZ. The KPA probably plans on using South Korean fuel, food, and other logistics. Information concerning the KPA’s plan to feed, provide ammo resupply, and fuel its attacking forces is unknown. This could be one of the primary factors limiting DPRK from initiating an offensive attack. However, South Korea has a plentiful supply of civilian fuel stations for gas, diesel, and other POL products.

Some analysts have determined that urbanization has taken maneuver ground away from advancing North Korean ground forces. Additionally, during any offensive, South Koreans fleeing Seoul and other northern areas would clog the road systems and further reduce North Korea’s ability to travel quickly. However, as South Korea continues to build new modern highways, North Korean forces would have no compunction about destroying or bulldozing cars off the roads in advance of their mechanized forces.

Ability to Fight with Little or No Warning. North Korea deploys approximately 65 percent of its military units and up to 80 percent of its estimated aggregate firepower within 100 km of the DMZ. Figure 6 depicts the southerly forward movement of KPA forces over the decades. North Korea theoretically could invade the south without recourse to further deployments and with relatively little warning time. However, this forward deployment also is positioned to deter any attack coming from the south. It is estimated that if North Korea decided to initiate hostilities, the Republic North Korea decided to initiate hostilities, the Republic 36 hours warning under ideal conditions, or as little as 12 hours if the KPA already was at an alerted status.

Figure 6. North Korea historical Force Deployment toward the DMZ.

Force multipliers for ensuring success for any NK offensive operations include surprise, the United States being preoccupied in another major area of operations (i.e., Operation IRAQI FREEDOM), or the location of U.S. forces in the Pacific Command (PACOM) area (i.e., 7th Fleet participating in an exercise in Australia or conducting tsunami relief operations in Indonesia).

Fight with Unacceptable Delays. In 2000, North Korea continued to improve its military, working hard to arrest a decline in readiness and to upgrade its capability. Highlighting these enhancements was an ambitious program to improve ground forces capabilities such as the deployment of large numbers of long-range 240mm multiple rocket launcher systems and 170mm self-propelled guns to hardened sites located near the DMZ.

Defectors may provide the best insight into the capabilities and readiness of the KPA. Defectors have only limited information about military affairs, except in the case of life in the army, which is experienced by most men and many women. Because military organization and capabilities are considered state secrets, the best open-source information may still be defector testimony.

One questions whether the KPA would honor its orders to initiate an attack without delay. Kim Nam Joon, former KPA second lieutenant, stated that: “In the first stages of a war, 90 percent of the KPA soldiers would do as they were told — invade South Korea. They are ignorant, they don’t know right from wrong.” Although this may lead North Korean soldiers to conclude that their leaders have been lying to them, it instead may become a motivator as KPA soldiers become incensed about why their “brothers and sisters in the south” have not provided assistance to the North and have grown fat and corrupt.

Ability to Perform Its Missions Promptly. Mandatory military conscription lasts 8 years on average, with most servicemen performing the same job in the same unit the entire period. This stability in the ranks allows North Korean units to maintain readiness, while limiting the expenditure of scarce resources. However, this readiness may be false. North Korea is in a dilemma where they cannot reduce the military force because of the immensity of maintaining the large quantities of equipment in the KPA inventory and of providing labor for construction (fortifying the country and placing everything into underground facilities) and agriculture (the military must produce its own vegetables and meat). Military bases try to run greenhouses and farms, but they fail for the lack of materials and proper management.

Colonel Yoo Song Il, KPA Supply Corps, stated that in 1992, there was 9 days of food reserve for war. Daily food requirements for soldiers were 560 grams (20 oz) of rice, 240 grams (8.5 oz) of other grain, 100 grams of meat (3.5 oz), 1 KG of vegetables (2.2 lbs), 20 grams of soy sauce, and 10 grams of cigarettes. Kim Jong Il told them that soldiers must produce their own meat and vegetables. Another defector reported that malnutrition was spreading in the North Korean military. This defector stated that before the food shortage (probably a reference to 1999 when reportedly 2 million North Korean citizens died from malnutrition), 800g (just over 22 oz) of rice and 200g (7 oz) of meat was the official amount provided for 1 day; the soldiers have not been receiving the official amount for more than 10 years. It does not seem to be improving either. Rice has been replaced with corn or potatos, and meat is only provided for holidays.

A defector from Pyongyang stated that the effects of malnutrition can been seen in the countryside as students are stunted from a lack of food, and their physical strength is diminished. The KPA used to require that men had to be taller than 148 cm (58 inches) and heavier than 48 kg (106 lbs) but now that requirement is reportedly down to 145 cm (57 inches) and 40 kg (88 lbs).

The effects of malnutrition degrade everything from morale to body mass to mental faculties. One aspect that all defectors report is that even though the military is favored, there is still not enough food. Interestingly, North Korea reportedly cannot feed its population, but it has production lines running to produce tanks, artillery, ammunition, aircraft, submarines, surface ships, and missiles.

Conclusions.

Reunification of the peninsula on North Korean terms remains the foremost strategic goal of the regime. North Korea’s severe and probably irreversible economic decline places the regime’s survival in question. Therefore, Kim Jong Il must see reunification on their terms not only as their historic purpose, but also as essential to regime survival (another stated strategic goal). Continued investment in a powerful military organized and deployed to execute an offensive military strategy, despite its drain on a failing economy, strongly suggests that North Korean leaders perceive the military as probably the only remaining instrument for realization of that goal.

When evaluating an opposing enemy’s military forces, the commander will always ask what are the capabilities, the readiness, and the chances for enemy success? One must also add the question, “Would North Korea initiate an attack if its forces were not ready or capable?” Its current leader, Kim Jong Il, does not have the military training and experience that his father had. However, Kim’s father’s actual experiences and his father’s written experiences are two different things; the son is no different in this area. This differential view could lead to faulty or catastrophic decisions similar to those Saddam made in regard to military operations.

In March 2006, USFK Commander General Bell stated in Congressional testimony:

Despite its apparent economic decline and political isolation, North Korea continues to pose a dangerous and complex threat to regional and global peace and security. It maintains a massive, offensively postured conventional force that far exceeds the requirements to defend its country. There is little evidence to suggest the regime will abandon its “Military First” Policy, provocative diplomacy, nuclear challenges, missile proliferation and illegal activities, all of which are designed to contribute to its survival. North Korea will continue to maintain its bellicose stance toward the rest of the world, implementing limited policy and economic changes, while subjecting its people to continued repression. For now and into the foreseeable future, it will remain a major threat to stability and security in Northeast Asia and the world.

North Korea’s exact military and WMD capabilities may be incorrectly assessed, improperly evaluated, or simply unknown in some respects. However, there is no question that the KPA has significant offensive and defensive capabilities which cannot be overlooked or ignored. The debate continues as to what the KPA is focusing on and what its intentions for these military forces truly are. Whether or not these forces would be successful in either an offensive or defensive role probably is never questioned since it implies that failure is a possibility. The KPA may be employed based solely upon the whims of Pyongyang’s political leaders.

Conventional military forces and asymmetric SOF and WMD capabilities provide strong indications that North Korea’s intentions are still focused on a strategy of reunification by military force. If dictator Kim Jong Il ordered the KPA to launch an attack or invasion of South Korea, the North Korean military would be ready to implement it without question.