The Korean People's Army (KPA) (Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선인민군; Chosŏn inmin'gun), also known as the Inmin Gun (English: People's Army), are the military forces of North Korea. Kim Jong-un is the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and Chairman of the National Defence Commission. The KPA consists of five branches, Ground Force, the Navy, the Air Force, the Strategic Rocket Forces, and the Special Operation Force.
The KPA's annual budget is approximately six billion USD. The U.S. Institute for Science and International Security reports that the DPRK may possess fissile material for around two to nine nuclear warheads. The North Korean Songun ("Military First") policy elevates the KPA to the primary position in the government and society.
In 1978, Kim Il-sung directed that "Military Foundation Day" be changed from 8 February to 25 April, the nominal day of establishment of his anti-Japanese guerrilla army in 1932, to recognize the supposedly indigenous Korean origins of the KPA and obscure its Soviet origin. An active arms industry had been developed to produce long-range missiles such as the Nodong-1.
North Korea is the most militarized country in the world today, having the fourth largest army in the world, at about 1,106,000 armed personnel, with about 20% of men ages 17–54 in the regular armed forces. Military service of up to 10 years is mandatory for most fit people. It also has a reserve force comprising 7,700,000 personnel. It operates an enormous network of military facilities scattered around the country, a large weapons production basis, a dense air defense system, the third largest chemical weapons stockpile in the world, and includes the world's largest Special Forces contingent (numbering 180,000 men). While the aging equipment, deriving from the economic plight of the country, is seen as major defect of the North Korean military capability, it is nevertheless regarded as a significant threat due to its size and proximity to major civilian areas.
KPA soldiers serve 10 years in the military, which runs its own factories, farms and trading arms.
The KPA faces its primary adversaries, the Military of South Korea and United States Forces Korea, across the Korean Demilitarized Zone, as it has since the Armistice Agreement of July 1953.
Read more about Korean People's Army: History, Command and Control, Organization, Budget, Conscription, Capabilities, Foreign Deployments and Exports
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