the ROK in 3 days, they do believe that if the political and military conditions are favorable, the KPA can achieve this goal within 3-4 weeks. The key has always been the race between occupying the peninsula and U.S. reinforcement/resupply. North Korea probably observed between Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait and the U.S.-led coalition counterattack, it took 5 1/2 months. However, the most important point to be made is that Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait in a matter of hours. It took a U.S.-led coalition to win the country back.
North Korean leaders remember and have attempted to adapt to what they learned in 1950, that the United States and its United Nations (UN) allies stabilized the military situation on the Korean peninsula within 1 month after the KPA surprise attack, conducted a complex amphibious landing in 2 1/2 months, and conquered the enemy’s homeland in 4 months. North Korea never totally controlled the entire peninsula.
North Korean leaders saw the demise of the Soviet Union as primarily the result of Gorbachev’s “New Thinking,” which included the shift of the Soviet Union’s military strategy to “defensive defense.” A shift similar in North Korea will not happen as long as North Korea continues to maintain its strategic objectives of reunification and regime survival. Pyongyang cannot abandon its offensive military strategy.
The Role of Special Purpose Forces (including SOF). A dominant element of the KPA is its Special Purpose Forces. Unconventional warfare and the various aspects of North Korean military doctrine dictate the utilization of these forces in all aspects of the KPA’s doctrine and strategy. In any attempt to unify the peninsula by military means, these forces probably will be most critical in achieving success for the KPA.
Since the 1960s, North Korea increasingly has developed its SOF manpower (see Figure 5). These forces, which include the KPA special operations force (SOF), are the world’s largest, enjoy the highest military funding priority for the regime, and are tough, well-trained, and profoundly loyal. It is extremely difficult to determine the actual manpower count for SOF because of its nature. North Korea maintains SOF because of its nature. North Korea maintains 122,000 troops, with between 80,000 and 100,000 probably adjudged to be SOF. This significant increase signals the probable intentions of North Korea to use these forces in the fight for the rear area as the First Front.
Note: Compiled by authors from various sources.
Figure 5. North Korean soF Force Development.
The actual purpose for this large build-up of these elite forces is unknown. However, these SOF probably deal with the internal requirements of maintaining the military-first policy and the external requirements. North Korea’s special purpose forces are unique and do not mirror-image Chinese or Russian forces. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) previously has reported that these KPA special forces have welldeveloped skills of repelling, mountain climbing, swimming, martial arts, airborne and amphibious landing instruction, demolition, and rigorous physical fitness that is complemented by their mental training that includes individual initiative, creativity, flexibility, and aggressiveness — similar to those associated with elite units throughout the world.
North Korean SOF fall into many different categories: ranger/commando, light infantry, airborne, sniper/strategic assassination, SEAL, reconnaissance, amphibious assault/naval infantry/marine, agent infiltration and intelligence operative. North Korean SOF are associated with conventional warfare, unrestricted warfare, unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare, partisan warfare, asymmetric warfare, and insurgency.
Evolution of North Korean Special Purpose Forces. North Korean Special Purpose Forces retain their roots and history from Kim Il Sung’s first military experiences and have evolved as KPA military doctrine has evolved. Figure 5 shows the numerical development of SOF manpower from the 1960s through the present. In 1958, Kim Il Sung began to define the role of the KPA’s emerging SOF when he issued his “Instruction to Reconnaissance Troops.” His instructions included training under every type of weather and seasonal condition to include day and night physical training in the mountains; arming themselves with solid party ideology; being able to fight in the enemy’s rearguard; acquiring the ability to destroy airfields, “atomic guns” (probably a reference to perceived U.S. artillery deployed in the South with a nuclear ordnance capability — it does show North Korea’s awareness and targeting of such systems if they did exist), bridges, tunnels, and locomotives; operating airplanes, automobiles, and trains; operating ocean-going and river ships and boats; and being adept swimmers.
The early 1960s reflected a time of civil unrest and military vulnerabilities in South Korea. Large student uprisings forced the resignation of the Syngman Rhee government and enabled the ROK military under the leadership of Park Chung Hee to assume power through a coup d’état. The DPRK’s failure to be prepared and capable to exploit these vulnerabilities resulted in reorganization and modernization of the KPA which included intelligence gathering and North Korea-sponsored anti-ROK operations.
Between 1965 and 1968, the KPA developed the light infantry regiment class of infantry units. This regiment would receive training and equipment for its new warfare missions. It consisted of approximately 1,300-1,800 troops, responsible for conducting guerrilla warfare and special operations within the army group’s area of responsibility.
Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, the KPA had only a limited amphibious warfare capability. Most of the KPA maritime lift was conducted by fishing boats, junks, sampans, and a few conventional amphibious warfare craft. The North Koreans had a history of using nontraditional methods to conduct amphibious operations. For example, on June 25, 1950 a ROKN patrol craft sank a 1,000 ton armed North Korean steamer with 600 KPA troops embarked, attempting to land near Pusan. The significance of this operation has been lost, since all the attention has been given to North Korea’s offensive thrust down South Korea’s main road along the east coast. If the 600 troops had landed successfully near Pusan, the outcome of the war could have been drastically altered. This forgotten operation reveals Kim Il Sung’s doctrine of using a rear attack to support his main effort.
Early in 1968, the DPRK once again revealed its resolve to use its SOF to achieve its missions by using a 31-man assault team to attempt to assassinate the President of South Korea. It was believed that the death of the President would result in civil unrest allowing for the “revolution in the south” to begin with KPA assistance. Dressed in ROK Army uniforms, the North Korean SOF team infiltrated South Korea through the DMZ. On January 21, 1968, the team proceeded to the Presidential residence, the Blue House, to kill the president and any other civilians encountered. However, the team was discovered and engaged by ROK National Police. All of the North Korean commandos were killed, but two of the team reportedly escaped back to North Korea without being captured. Twenty-seven ROK personnel were killed, with 65 ROK wounded. This act was eclipsed quickly in U.S. thinking by the attack and capture of the USS Pueblo two days later by the Korean People’s Navy and Air Force units.
VIII Special Corps. Because of the failures of this attack and other large commando operations targeting South Korea during the late 1960s, North Korea established the VIII Special Corps. North Korean partisan generals were purged, special warfare and intelligence assets were reorganized, and policy was reformulated. Rather than guerrilla warfare, political subversion, with selected use of military special operations, now became the policy to be pursued against South Korea. This would be complemented by a dramatic increase in support for “international revolution” and the struggle against imperialism (i.e., revolution and terrorism) as an indirect means of striking at both the ROK and the United States. In 1969, Kim Il Sung emphasized the “study of combining regular and irregular warfare, and of mountain warfare.”
Kim Il Sung stated that there would be a unique strategic approach based upon “light infantry units,” which had the capability of conducting “all forms of combat.” This was a pivotal point in the development of the KPA’s
