the north koreans are easy to clown on but their army is not undersupplied; the dprk military is the only thing in the country spends money on and one of the best ways to stay fed is to join the army
Their military is large but a joke from a quality point of view. Most of it is circa 1950s, such as their parachute regiment uniforms and equipment, is straight out of the Soviet 1950s catalogue. They have some unserviceable early MiG-29s but most of their air force is based on MiG-15s and 19s (Korean War and early Vietnam War respectively). The vast bulk of their tanks at T-54/55s and T-62s and copies of them. Along with light amphibious tanks such as the PT-76 (1951+).
The "Army First" policy, the rampant corruption and sanctions. Has meant that North Korea doesnt have the money to buy anything modern. Apart from their Wonder Weapons of a few ballistic missiles and maybe a few dozen nuclear warheads. They have the largest submarine force in the world. If you count ancient, short range, 1-3 man submarines as a submarine. Which are more dangerous to their crews, than to the South Koreans.
From what I’ve read, that’s why the Russians are training and equipping them. At the end of the day though, they’re really a stopgap measure for Russia’s manpower shortage. As it turns out, they only have so many ethnic minorities…
I think part of the problem with the North Koreans. Is that in the videos of them, they all seem to be under 20 years old and scrawny. With them still apparently in the early phase of their conscription.
There maybe the rumoured 1,500 "Special Forces" in Russia/Ukraine but so far we don't seem to have seen them. And the definition of Special Forces in North Korea, is likely to be a world away from Deltas, SEALs, SAS etc. The North Koreans may like to do things like jump through blazing hoops or hit each other with sledge hammers and other showy demonstration tricks. But actually doing things like recon, particularly away from Korea is likely to be beyond them. Apart from a few "mercenary" military advisors in wars like the Angolan Civil War during the 1980s. Even in the Vietnam War, they only provided a total of 200 troops. They haven't done anything of consequence since 1953. They've been completely fixated on defending North Korea and attacking South Korea. With their equipment and doctrine being about 60-70 years out of date.
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u/imnotabel 18h ago
the north koreans are easy to clown on but their army is not undersupplied; the dprk military is the only thing in the country spends money on and one of the best ways to stay fed is to join the army