North Korea

StevoJH · **Joined:** Mon Feb 02, 2009 5:37 am **Posts:** 122

Matt Wiser wrote:

Is there any reliable unclassified NK Order of Battle? There's one for a wargame called Crisis: Korea 1995, but it's probably guesswork.

2007:http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/North_Korea.pdf

Quote:

Major Military Units: The army has 19 corps: 1 tank, 4 mechanized, 9 infantry, 1 artillery, the P’y4ngyang Defense Command, Border Security Command, Missile Guidance Bureau, and Light Infantry Training Guidance Bureau. Among these 19 corps are 27 infantry divisions, 15 armored brigades, 9 multiple rocket launcher brigades, 14 infantry brigades, and 21 artillery brigades. The total ground forces strength in 2006 was about 1 million troops. These included 87,000 organized into the Special Purpose Forces Command, which had 10 sniper brigades, 12 light infantry brigades, 17 reconnaissance brigades, 1 airborne battalion, and 8 battalions organized as the Bureau of Reconnaissance Special Forces. There were 40 infantry divisions in reserve status. The navy, primarily a coastal defense force, is headquartered in P’y4ngyang and has a strength of 60,000. It has two fleets, the East Sea Fleet, headquartered at T’oejo-dong, and the West Sea Fleet, headquartered at Namp’o. The East Sea Fleet has nine naval bases, and the West Sea Fleet has 10 naval bases. The air force has a strength of 110,000, with four air divisions organized into 33 air regiments plus three independent air battalions. Three of the divisions are responsible for north, east, and south defense sectors; a fourth—a training division—is responsible for the northeast sector. The air force has 11 airbases located at strategic points—many aimed at lightning strikes against key South Korean targets—mostly in southern North Korea, with some in rear areas closer to the border with China.

16/2/2009
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/kpa.htm

Man in the Mountains · **Joined:** Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:30 pm **Posts:** 160

Matt Wiser wrote:

I'll bet the PRC is going to maintain their "watch and wait" posture for the time being. Though there's probably some intelligence-sharing with the U.S. and ROKs re: North Korea and Soviet Forces in the Far East. When the NK offensive runs out of steam-as it will eventually-the pro-Chinese faction in the NK government will probably use a few "premature heart attacks" to influence events north of the 38th Parallel. And if one of those so afflicted is Kim-Jong Il, so be it...

I wonder if intel sharing is going to annoy the Soviets or the DPRK to do something stupid and start a border incident, such as trying to tamper with Chinese listening posts on the border? If I were the CIA and allied intel agencies, I'd be on the Internet right now accessing Chinese chat rooms to create unbearably high levels of anti Soviet feeling in China :twisted:

It's so much easier to play William Randolph Hearst with modern communications. I wonder if someone could give a false order for some artillery company to start cross border shelling.

All right, so I read that Joe Buff book at the airport, I admit it.

Matt Wiser · **Posted:** Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:53 am

What the Soviets and NKs don't know, they can't use to justify any kind of action against the PRC. SIGINT Stations on the PRC/NK and the PRC/Soviet borders are probably pretty busy at the moment, soaking up all they can. It's a fair bet every Russian and Korean linguist in the PLA and the MSS (Ministry of State Security) is very busy at the moment, translating the COMINT and any decrypted SIGINT they've intercepted. As for passing it along to the U.S. and the ROKs, meetings involving the PLA's intelligence chief, the CIA Station Chief, and the Station Chief for the NSPA (ROK Intelligence) would be easy to arrange in Beijing-if they haven't begun already. It's also likely the pro-PRC faction in NK is also passing stuff along, via the PRC Embassy in Pyongyang. If, 36 hours later, the product winds up on the desk of PACCOM's J-2 at Pearl Harbor...that's just too bad, Kim Chump-Il....

Man in the Mountains · **Joined:** Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:30 pm **Posts:** 160

Speaking of SIGINT, I've heard of a partially CIA staffed station in Xinjiang during the 80s.

Matt Wiser · **Posted:** Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:59 pm

You're quite right: it replaced a pair of stations in Iran that were abandoned as a result of the events of Feburary, 1979. (well before the Hostage Crisis). They eavesdropped on Soviet missile tests, soaking up telemetry and other SIGINT.

MarkLBailey · **Joined:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:04 am **Posts:** 35

Well, if worried about AN-2 (and someone certainly should be in TLW), there are quite a number of P-51 in the USA in private hands, and fitting a wing-pod-mounted air to air radar and helmet mounted night vision slaved to basic sights would not be a difficult task!

The age of some of the pilots might be, though.

So in all honesty, the issue with raising a SQN of P-51 is... what?

Cheers: Mark

Matt Wiser · **Posted:** Fri Dec 18, 2009 8:57 pm

If the PA-48 program had gone forward, those Mustangs would probably still be on duty. The solution for the NKAF's AN-2s and helos turned out to be 2-6 Cav-until they rotated back to the States and a new unit was stood up to replace them full time. They were assigned the counter-SOF mission with their AH-64Ds, and their job was/is to hunt down and destroy any aircraft or surface craft suspected of infiltrating NK Commandos into the South.

Nik_SpeakerToCats · **Posted:** Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:15 am

IIRC, a recurring theme in one MASH series was a burpy old stringbag nuisance raider that always missed the camp with its peewee bombs.

( MASH gridded the minefield, laid bets ?? )

Was it appropriate, ie one of these AN2 etc ??

Rafale_2000 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:53 pm **Posts:** 44

I wonder if the North Korean Navy acquired better ships than Osa's and Romeo's. Perhaps some Kilos and maybe some newer patrol craft. It always seems like the North Korean Navy was the poorest one of the Trifecta.

Bronquites · **Posted:** Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:01 pm

Rafale_2000 wrote:

I wonder if the North Korean Navy acquired better ships than Osa's and Romeo's. Perhaps some Kilos and maybe some newer patrol craft. It always seems like the North Korean Navy was the poorest one of the Trifecta.

To acquire means money or some other resource was involved in a transaction. What does NK have that might interest the Soviets or China? I doubt that They should be lucky that those Osa's and Romeo's work before pushing for more.

Matt Wiser · **Posted:** Sat Dec 19, 2009 10:00 pm

Regarding that MASH episode: Five O'Clock Charlie was a PT-19 trainer painted in NK markings, to represent the "Bedcheck Charlies" (PO-2 biplanes) that did fly night harassment missions behind UN lines from 1951-53. Supposedly that episode was based on a true story.

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