NORTH KOREAN,
ARMY
THE KOREAN PEOPLE'S ARMY
The Korean People's Army (KPA; Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선인민군; Chosŏn inmin'gun) constitutes the military defence forces (and most of the government) of North Korea. Kim Jong-un is the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and Chairman of both the Central Military Commissionand National Defence Commission. The KPA defence consists of five branches: Ground Force, theNavy, the Air Force, the Strategic Rocket Forces, and the Special Operation Force. The Worker-Peasant Red Guards also come under control of the KPA.
The KPA faces its primary adversaries, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces and United States Forces Korea, across the Korean Demilitarized Zone, as it has since the Armistice Agreement of July 1953. As of 2013, with 9,495,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel, it is the largest military organization on Earth. This number represents nearly 40% of the population,[6] and is the numeric equivalent of the entire population between ages 20 and 45.[7]
Contents
[hide]History[edit]
North Korea officially dates the foundation of the KPA back to the establishment of Kim Il-sung's anti-Japanese guerrilla army. In the 1970s, "Military Foundation Day" was changed from 8 February to 25 April, the nominal day of establishment of this army in 1932.[8]
In 1939, the Korean Volunteer Army (KVA), was formed in Yan'an, China. The two individuals responsible for the army were Kim Tu-bong and Mu Chong. At the same time, a school was established near Yan'an for training military and political leaders for a future independent Korea. By 1945, the KVA had grown to approximately 1,000 men, mostly Korean deserters from the Imperial Japanese Army. During this period, the KVA fought alongside the Chinese communist forces from which it drew its arms and ammunition. After the defeat of the Japanese, the KVA accompanied the Chinese communist forces into eastern Jilin, intending to gain recruits from ethnic Koreans in China, particularly from Yanbian, and then enter Korea.[9] By September 1945, the KVA had a 2,500 strong force at its disposal.[citation needed]
Just after World War II and during the Soviet Union's occupation of the part of Korea north of the 38th Parallel, the Soviet 25th Army headquarters in Pyongyang issued a statement ordering all armed resistance groups in the northern part of the peninsula to disband on 12 October 1945. 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 21 October 1945.[10]
The headquarters felt a need for a separate unit for security around railways, and the formation of the unit was announced on 11 January 1946. That unit was activated on 15 August of the same year to supervise existing security forces and creation of the national armed forces.[10]
Military institutes such as the Pyongyang Academy (became No. 2 KPA Officers School in Jan. 1949) and the Central Constabulary Academy (became KPA Military Academy in Dec. 1948) soon followed for education of political and military officers for the new armed forces.
After the military was organized and facilities to educate its new recruits were constructed, the Constabulary Discipline Corps was reorganized into the Korean People's Army General Headquarters. The previously semi-official units became military regulars with distribution of Soviet uniforms, badges, and weapons that followed the inception of the headquarters.[10]
The State Security Department, a forerunner to the Ministry of People's Defense, was created as part of the Interim People's Committee on 4 February 1948. The formal creation of the Korean People's Army was announced on four days later on 8 February, the day after the Fourth Plenary Session of the People’s Assembly approved the plan to separate the roles of the military and those of the police,[11] seven months before the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed on 9 September 1948. In addition, the Ministry of State for the People's Armed Forces was established, which controlled a central guard battalion, two divisions, and an independent mixed and combined arms brigade.[10]
Conflicts and events[edit]
Before the outbreak of the Korean War, Joseph Stalin equipped the KPA with modern tanks, trucks, artillery, and small arms (at the time, the South Korean Army had nothing remotely comparable either in numbers of troops or equipment). During the opening phases of the Korean War in 1950, the KPA quickly drove South Korean forces south and captured Seoul, only to lose 70,000 of their 100,000-strong army in the autumn after U.S. amphibious landings at the Battle of Incheon and a subsequent drive to the Yalu River. On 4 November, China openly staged a military intervention. On 7 December, Kim Il-sung was deprived of the right of command of KPA by China.[12] The KPA subsequently played a secondary minor role to Chinese forces in the remainder of the conflict. By the time of the Armistice in 1953, the KPA had sustained 290,000 casualties and lost 90,000 men as POWs.
In 1953, the Military Armistice Commission (MAC) was able to oversee and enforce the terms of the armistice. TheNeutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC), originally made up of delegations from Poland, Czechoslovakiaand Hungary on the Communist side, and Sweden and Switzerland on the United Nations side, monitored the activities of the MAC.
Soviet thinking on the strategic scale was replaced since December 1962 with a people's war concept. The Soviet idea of direct warfare was replaced with a Maoist war of attrition strategy. Along with the mechanization of some infantry units, more emphasis was put on light weapons, high-angle indirect fire, night fighting, and sea denial.
No comments:
Post a Comment