Order of Battle - Korean People's Army
North Korea continues to position forces into the area just north of the DMZ - in a position to threaten Combined Forces Command and all of Seoul with little warning. Seventy percent of their active force, including approximately 700,000 troops, over 8,000 artillery systems, and 2,000 tanks, is postured within 90 miles of the Demilitarized Zone. This percentage continues to rise despite the June 2000 summit. Most of this force in the forward area is protected in over 4,000 underground facilities, out of over 11,000 nationwide. From their current locations, these forces can attack with minimal preparations or warning. The protracted southward deployment follows a tactic of "creeping normalcy" - a significant movement over a period of many years that would attract too much international attention if accomplished over weeks or months.
The North Korean Army (NKA) increased from an estimated 263,000 in 1953 to 350,000 in 1968. This was accompanied by a series of organizational changes so that by 1968 there were 5 army groups, 19 infantry divisions, 1 surface-to-air missile division, 3 AAA divisions, 1 tank division, and 5 infantry brigades. Additional fire support was provided by two howitzer and two heavy mortar brigades, and one rocket launcher brigade. Five tank regiments (four medium and one heavy) completed the major combat elements.
Over 90 percent of all KPA personnel are in the ground forces, the Korean People's Army. Ground forces in 1960 may have totalled fewer than 400,000 persons and probably did not rise much above that figure before 1972. The force expanded relentlessly over the next two decades; in 1992, there were approximately 1 million personnel. The size, organization, disposition, and combat capabilities of the army give P'yongyang military options both for offensive operations to reunify the peninsula and for credible defensive operations against any perceived threat from South Korea. Militaries that experience such growth also provide great upward mobility for their officers.
The army initially was organized along Chinese and Soviet concepts. Over time, this organization has adjusted to the unique circumstances of the military problem the KPA faces and to the evolution of North Korean military doctrine and thought.
The North Korean military rank system consists of 21 levels: Generalissimo, marshal, inferior commander-in-chief; Senior general, general, center, major general; Senior colonel, colonel, lieutenant colonel, major; Senior captain, captain, first lieutenant, second lieutenant; Spy master sergeant, master sergeant, staff sergeant, corporal; Superior private, inferior soldier.
Each province has, independent of the collocated conventional geographic corps, a regional Military District Command dedicated to local defense, which controls predominantly reserve forces organized into divisions and brigades. The Military District Commands apparently were formed during a restructuring of the reserves during the 1980s. Their command structure is unclear, although they apparently control the local reserves, some regular forces, and coastal defense units.
As of 1996 major combat units consisted of 153 divisions and brigades, including 60 infantry divisions/brigades, 25 mechanized infantry brigades, 13 tank brigades, 25 Special Operation Force (SOF) brigades and 30 artillery brigades. North Korea deployed ten corps including sixty divisions and brigades in the forward area south of the Pyongyang-Wonsan line.
Ground Forces Order of Battle
{NOTE: Changes between 1992 and 1999 reflect both actual changes in the composition of KPA forces, as well as improved intelligence estimates of these forces.
| 1992 Number |
1999 Number |
|
|---|---|---|
| Strength | +1,100,000 | 996,000 |
| Organization | ||
| Corps | 20 | |
| Conventional | 8 | 12 |
| Mechanized | 4 | 4 |
| Armor | 1 | ? 2 |
| Artillery | 2 | 2 |
| Geographic | 1 | |
| Military district commands | 9 | |
| Divisions / Brigades | 153 | |
| Infantry divisions | 26-30 | 60 |
| Reserve and pacification divisions | 22-26 | |
| Infantry brigades | 3-6 | |
| Reserve and pacification brigades | 18+ | |
| Mechanized and mobile brigades | 23-30 | 25 |
| Armor brigades | 14-15 | 13 |
| Artillery brigades | 20-30 | 30 |
| Special operations forces brigades | 22 | 25 |
| Special operations forces battalions | 7 |
|
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