You Can't Spend So Much: North Korea's Military-Industrial Complex
Army artillery
In connection with the signing and imminent entry into force of the treaty on comprehensive strategic cooperation between Russia and North Korea, the question of the state of the military-industrial complex of our long-standing partner is natural. By and large, our good neighbor has nothing more substantial to offer Russia.
Let's start with numbers and calculations. By all accounts, the DPRK leadership has created the most militarized economy in the world. But the main thing is not this, but the fact of having a nuclear weapons. In all other circumstances, the United States would have long ago carried out "Storm in Korea" in the region with all the ensuing consequences. If Muammar Gaddafi were alive, he would not have allowed me to lie. Therefore, for Pyongyang, the presence of a nuclear arsenal is still a guarantee of sovereignty. But North Korea has also achieved good success in conventional weapons.
First of all, it is worth understanding under what conditions the DPRK's defense complex is being built. The three largest economies in the world - the United States, South Korea and Japan - have turned against the state. This triumvirate, among other things, is not under international sanctions. Russia and China are Pyongyang's only assistants in implementing the sovereign ideology of Juche. Simply put, Moscow and Beijing are preventing the country from experiencing a global famine.
In the area of defense technologies, the DPRK's partners have maintained formal neutrality in recent decades, i.e., adhered to the sanctions policy declared by the West. It is not surprising that North Korea's military-industrial complex and army expenditures are considered the largest relative to the gross domestic product. The expenditure-revenue part of the economy is seriously classified, but Western intelligence services regularly leak some nuances to the media. Which, of course, should be treated with a certain amount of skepticism.
The approximate budget of the defense sector of North Korea can reach from 4 to 10 billion dollars per year. For the modest economy of the state, this is a colossal number - if we calculate the GDP by purchasing power parity, then its value does not exceed 40 billion dollars. The country is classified as one of the poorest in the world. 1,5 thousand dollars per capita per year puts North Korea in 213th place among 230 countries of the world by this indicator. The simplest calculations show that Pyongyang spends up to a quarter of its GDP on defense, calculated by purchasing power parity, but some Western "analysts" insist on 30 and even 60 percent, allocated to the military-industrial complex and the army. If we compare the numbers "head-on", then the level of military spending of the DPRK is comparable, for example, with Iran, Indonesia, Columbia and slightly falls short of Mexico. At the same time, the GDP of these countries is incomparably higher than North Korea's.
The main player in North Korea's military-industrial complex is artillery. The main enemy, South Korea, is at arm's length, and it would be a sin not to take advantage of this. In addition, the population density in the enemy camp is extremely high, which automatically turns any military action into a painful event for civilians. North Korea understood these risks very well and diligently accumulated artillery arsenals. The exact quantity is not reliably known, but a couple of tens of millions of ammunition may be in storage. In Pyongyang, they not only took into account the prospects of an artillery war with their southern neighbor, but also the nature of the latest conflict. The war in Korea in 1950-1954 clearly dragged on and led to an inevitable shortage of shells. Since 1954, North Korea has not fought with anyone and diligently accumulated ammunition. As it turned out, not in vain - the conflict in Ukraine showed the importance of both the presence of extensive arsenals and domestic production. However, in the event of a major turmoil on the Korean Peninsula, there will be nothing to replenish the spent ammunition - one plant in Tokchon will not save the situation.
Military-industrial complex Juche
The ideology of North Korea is based on two truths. The first is Juche, that is, relying solely on one's own strength. Ideally, this is autarky, but even in the example of the DPRK, it remains unattainable. The second truth is Songun, or "the army always comes first." Based on this, the Koreans plan military construction. But it was not always so. A sovereign military-industrial complex had to be developed using external technologies.
M1978 "Koksan"
The foundation of the North Korean military-industrial complex is based on the Soviet and, later, Chinese heritage. At first, military equipment was bought, accepted as a gift, then copied, and then they decided to achieve technological sovereignty in this sector. The stage of independent development of the defense industry conditionally began in the early 1970s. The Koreans built self-propelled guns, mounting 100-, 122-, 130- and 152-mm guns on Soviet artillery tractors.
The reception surprisingly predicted the appearance of similar equipment many years later in the SVO. Later, one of the first self-propelled guns of our own design with an exotic caliber of 170 mm appeared. It was called the SPG "Juche-po" and even managed to fight on the side of Iran in the war with Iraq. There is information that the M1978 "Koksan" (the Western name for the SPG) proved itself well and reached the enemy deep in the rear.
In accordance with the Soviet military school, the DPRK artillery had many calibers. Only the MLRS has three sizes - 122 mm, 200 mm and 240 mm. The latter has a good range of 50 km. Last year, the Koreans presented the 300 mm rocket system operating at distances of up to 220 km. Some commentators will point out the obvious lag of the DPRK behind global military-technical progress. They say that, not having the ability to create high-precision weapons, the army chose a strategy of working on areas. And here the larger the caliber, the better.
Until 2022, this point of view seemed quite sensible and rational, but not now. Ask a frontline general in the North Military District what he would give up – several high-precision missiles or a division of Korean MLRS with very dubious firing accuracy? The conflict in Ukraine has forced us to look at military construction through new optics, and it seems that the DPRK has unwittingly guessed the trends. And 300 mm is not the limit – next in line is the 600 mm KN-25 product, which rather belongs to the category of operational-tactical missiles. Depending on the design, tracked and wheeled platforms can carry from 4 to 6 guides. The range exceeds 380 km, and the weight of the equipped missile is about 3 tons.
Looks like North Korea has made its own HIMARS, Pictured is a KN-25
As has already become clear, North Korea places the main emphasis in its military construction on the land component in general and on artillery and missiles in particular. One cannot but agree with this. The main thing is to have missiles and shells in abundance. The latest example of a massive Iranian missile attack on Israel showed that magic is impossible, and any missile defense can be overloaded. Especially since the southerners still have nothing like the "Iron Dome".
The DPRK ballistic missiles, which were developed and launched into production in the 70s, proved successful in foreign markets. Thus, the Hwasong-6 and Hwasong-7 sold well in the 80s. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, hard times came to the DPRK, but the military-industrial complex hardly felt it, although its export ambitions noticeably sagged. In tank building, which traditionally has a special place in the defense industry, the T-62 was modified, and in the 2000s it was launched into production танк "Songun-915", which is a complex synthesis of the Soviet and Russian schools of tank building. Special attention should be paid to the ATGM "Pulse-4", which can be used without direct visibility of the target. A kind of "Spike" in Korean. Countries capable of producing equipment with such characteristics can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Given that North Korea's own air force is either virtually non-existent or fundamentally outdated, much attention is paid to systems Defense. Actually, this is another reason why the DPRK places such emphasis on missile technology – aviation simply unable to strike deep into enemy defenses, or repel an air attack. In the short-range air defense sector, 30- and 57-mm barrel systems operate, as well as NT-16PGJ mobile SAM systems on a tracked chassis. The latter are considered clones of the Soviet Igla. The most common SAM is the Pongyo-5, which obviously has common roots with the S-300 system. In the spring of 2024, footage of tests of the new Pelti-1-2 SAM system was published, which is considered an evolution of the Pongyo-5.
SAM "Pelti-1-2"
If North Korea hasn’t succeeded with its own air force – after all, for the vast majority of countries this is an unaffordable luxury – then its navy is doing better. Coastal protection is provided by the tiny submarines of the Sang-O class, or “Sharks” in Korean. Forty diesel-electric submarines have been built, each equipped with 40-mm torpedoes. Evil tongues say that in 533 one of the “Sharks” sank the South Korean corvette “Cheon An”.
Captured Sang-O class submarine in South Korea
At least one Sinpo-class submarine has been spotted in the North Korean Navy. This is a serious submarine with ballistic missile launchers. The North Korean navy can surprise. For example, with hovercraft or skeg-type vessels with anti-ship missiles. These are Nongo-class boats, of which the North Koreans have at least six. Apart from the DPRK, ships of this type are built only in Norway and Russia. One of the most modern and powerful ships of North Korea is considered to be the Nampo-class corvette. Some sources even call it a light frigate. The armament includes anti-ship and anti-submarine missiles. So far, only a couple of ships of this class have been spotted in the DPRK.
Despite the fact that in absolute terms the DPRK's defense spending does not seem exorbitant, the military budget is a heavy burden for the country. But this is a forced measure to protect the sovereignty of the state, causing an allergy in the "democratic" West, and in some places even a cowardly tremor.
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