V Army Corps

V Army Corps is a First Echelon unit of the Korean People's Army that is deployed along the DMZ where it can conduct offensive across the DMZ or provide defense in the event of an invasion. As the unit is a forward corps it is organized accordingly with four infantry divisions, and a light infantry brigade, an armor brigade, two artillery brigades, an anti-aircraft regiment, two mortar regiments, and a river-crossing regiment.

This unit was reorganized twice before the Korean War -- once in November 1950 at P'yongnamjin and again at Saijong-ni in early April 1951 -- the units of the North Korean V Corps participated in the communist spring offensive without organic artillery support. Despite this handicap the corps initially achieved considerable success against ROK units but sustained heavy losses from massed UN artillery fire and was forced to retreat before the US counteroffensive. Simultaneously with the Worth Korean II and III Corps, the V Corps, in early June, allegedly received a full complement of artillery weapons from the USSR. While a part of these weapons was immediately issued to all divisions of the corps, the bulk was retained as a corps reserve. The senior corps artillery officer at this time was Senior Colonel Cho-Se-Gol. Colonel Kim-Hi-Kwon was the chief of staff of the artillery section.