Page 30 - 2018 Defense White Paper

Appendix 4
Force Statuses of the Two Koreas

As of December 2018
Classification South Korea North Korea
Army 464,000 1,110,000
Troops Navy 70,000 (including 29,000 Marine Corps) 60,000
(peace
Air Force 65,000 110,000
time)
Strategic Force - 10,000
Total 599,000 1,280,000
Corps 13 (including Marine Corps) 17
Divisions 40 (including Marine Corps) 81
Units
Brigades
31 (including Marine Corps) 131
(independent brigades)
Tanks 2,300 (including Marine Corps) 4,300
Army
Armored vehicle 2,800 (including Marine Corps) 2,500
Equip Field gun 5,800 (including Marine Corps) 8,600
ment
MLRS/MRLs 200 5,500
Ground-to-ground
guided weapon 60 launchers 100 launchers (Strategic Force)
Major Combatant 100 430
Forces
Amphibious ship 10 250
Surface
Navy Vessels Mine warfare vessel 10 20
(mine sweeper)
Support vessel 20 40
Submarines 10 70
Combat aircraft 410 810
Surveillance & control aircraft 70 (including those belonging to the Navy) 30
Air
Force Transport aircraft (including AN-2) 50 340
trainer 180 170
Helicopters (Army/Navy/Air Force) 680 290
3,100,000 (including officer candidates, 7,620,000 (including Reserve Military
Reserve forces wartime labor call, and secondment and training Unit, Worker-Peasant
alternative service personnel) Red Guards, and Red Youth Guard)
* Units and equipment of the Marine Corps are included in the number of units and equipment of the Army to compare military strength between the two Koreas.
* North Korean cannon numbers do not include 76.2 mm guns that are infantry regiment-level artillery.
* The table above only provides a quantitative comparison between the military power of South and North Korea. A more meaningful comparison requires
qualitative assessment based on a comprehensive consideration of the relevant factors such as the performance level and years-in-service of the equipment
used by the two sides, their levels of training, and the operational concepts of joint forces.
* As for army brigades, the 2016 Defense White Paper only compared the maneuver brigades ofSouth and North Korea. However, the 2018 Defense White
Paper included independent brigadesorganized under corps or higher-level echelons such as artillery, engineering, and aviation brigades.

332 Appendix