The Korean People's Army Special Operations Forces (KPASOF;

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

: 조선인민군 특수작전군;

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

: 朝鮮人民軍特殊作戰軍; Chosŏn-inmin'gun teugsujagjeongun) are the

special operations forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) encompasses the combined military forces of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). The KPA consists of five branches: the Korean People's Army Ground Force, Ground Force, the Ko ...

History

North Korean special operations forces existed by late-1968 when maritime commandos made the unsuccessful Uljin–Samcheok Landings against South Korea.Bolger, Daniel P., "Scenes from an Unfinished War: Low Intensity Conflict in Korea, 1966–1969", ''Leavenworth Papers No. 19'', Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, p. 86 A new special operations unit wearing what appeared to be modern combat gear appeared in the

Day of the Sun The Day of the Sun () is an annual public holiday in North Korea on 15 April, the birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, founder and Eternal President of North Korea. It is the most important national holiday in the country, and is considered to ...

military parade on 15 April 2017. According to North Korean state media, the new unit, the ''Lightning Commandos'', was intended to counter the

U.S. Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main fun ...

and

Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla The Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla (; Hanja: 大韓民國海軍特殊戰戰團), name abbreviated NAVSPECWARFLOT or WARFLOT, is a special forces, special operations force of the Republic of Korea Navy. The WARFLOT is most comm ...

. On July 27, 2023, soldiers from the 41st Amphibious Assault Battalion marched during a military parade. Elements of the KPASOF have been deployed to Russia as a part of the North Korean involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mission

The missions of the KPA Special Operations Forces are to breach the fixed defense of South Korea, to create a "second front" in the enemy's rear area, and to conduct battlefield and strategic reconnaissance.Handbook, North Korea, Defense Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C., 1993, p. 3-119 The KPA SOF performs military, political, and

psychological operations Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), has been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Min ...

. According to the

Yonhap News Agency Yonhap News Agency (; ) is a major news agency in South Korea. It is based in Seoul, South Korea. Yonhap provides news articles, pictures, and other information to newspapers, TV networks and other media in South Korea. History Yonhap was esta ...

, the KPA SOF also counters American and South Korean attempts to end

Kim Jong-Un Kim Jong Un (born 8 January 1983 or 1984) is a North Korean politician and dictator who has served as supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim ...

's rule.

Organization

Reconnaissance Brigades

The KPASOF are part of the ground intelligence effort of the

KPA The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the unit of pressure in the International System of Units (SI). It is also used to quantify internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus, and ultimate tensile strength. The unit, named after Blaise Pascal, is an SI ...

. Additionally, these units carry out assassination attempts.

Maritime SOF

A 1998 U.S. Army estimate assessed that the North Koreans can deliver over 7,000 SOF personnel to each of South Korea's coastlines.Military Review, "Solving Threat SOF Challenges", MarApr 98, General John H. Tilelli Jr., U.S. Army, and Lieutenant Colonel William P. Gerhardt, U.S. Army Based on the number of ships available to the KPA special forces, they could deliver 5,000 of these soldiers in one lift (approximately 102 amphibious craft). It is expected that these special forces once ashore, will attempt to infiltrate South Korea's rugged terrain to attack the South Koreans in their rear areas just before and during the renewed commencement of hostilities between the two countries. The KPA Navy has 24 Romeo class diesel electric submarines. as well as specially outfitted Sang-O class submarines for coastal infiltrations. Finally, the KPA Navy possesses at least forty-five

midget submarine A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, from which they are launched an ...

s for infiltrating two to five man teams into South Korean territory.Andrew Toppan, "World Navies Today: North Korea"
Hazegray Online
Accessed 30 May 2009

Inventory

Individual equipment

Small arms

Pistols

Submachine guns

Carbines

Shotguns

Assault rifles

Sniper rifles

Machine guns

Anti-tank launchers

Others

* The

Antonov An-2 The Antonov An-2 (USAF/DoD reporting name Type 22, NATO reporting name Colt) is a Soviet Union, Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed and manufactured by the Antonov Design Bureau beginning in 1947. I ...

transport aircraft is used for infiltration.Bermudez, Joseph S. Jr., "North Korean Special Forces" (1988), Jane‘s Publishing Company, Surrey, United Kingdom

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Military units and formations of the Korean People's Army Ground Force