Category: NK Military

The last 12 months have been unusual, even for North Korea, on several levels. There has been the rise in aggression against the South, the accelerating loss of economic control by the regime, an unusually cold winter, unusually severe electricity shortages, and now, an apparent erosion of control over the military. I’ve read a lot of stories about this being a hard year for North Korean soldiers, and for the most part, this is something new. In the past, the...

Via a reader — thanks — I get this very nicely filmed clip of that big, expensive parade in Pyongyang a month or so ago to celebrate the ascension of Kim Jong Eun, who looks even fatter when filmed from an angle below his chins. At 1:29, you’ll get a good look at the Pokpung-Ho (Storm), North Korea’s latest modification of the Soviet T-62 main battle tank. At 1:56, you’ll see the new Musudan medium-range missile, a weapon so deadly...

The London Daily Telegraph is reporting an upsurge in the number of North Korean soldiers “defecting” to China this year. The report, unfortunately, adds little detail to the headline’s claim, aside from saying that “on one stretch of the border, Chinese troops apprehended five North Korean soldiers in May alone.” Despite the breathless headline, the text offers no evidence that a “military clash” is “imminent.” Perhaps the word “desert” more accurately describes these soldiers’ actions than “defect,” which implies a...