Key Points and Summary – North Korea’s special operations forces are often overlooked, but estimates place them among the world’s largest elite formations.
-Designed for infiltration and disruption, DPRK SOF focus on raids, reconnaissance, sabotage, and leadership-targeting strikes against airfields, ports, logistics nodes, and command posts in a Korea conflict.
North Korea ICBM. Image Credit: KCNA.
-Specialized light infantry, reconnaissance brigades, airborne units, and sniper-style formations train to operate behind lines, sometimes using disguises and unconventional insertion methods.
-Their edge is motivation, conditioning, and mission volume—not Western-style precision enablers.
-The threat is less “invincible supermen” than massed, persistent harassment that could slow early mobilization, complicate air operations, and force rear-area defenses.
North Korea’s Special Forces Have a Message: The Rear Area Isn’t Safe
Whenever discussion about the world’s best special operations forces (SOFs) arise, they typically cover the SOFs of major powers, such as the United States of America’s Army Rangers, Green Berets, Delta Force, and Navy SEALs (and, lest we forget, Air Force Special Tactics and Marine Corp Recon and Force Recon), Great Britain’s Special Air Service (SAS), Special Boat Service (SBS), and Royal Marines, Russia’s Spetsnaz, and so forth.
However, there’s at least one so-called Third World nation whose SOFs mustn’t be overlooked either: those of the so-called “Hermit Kingdom,” the communist Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), better known as simply North Korea.
DPRK/NK SOF: Some Hard Fast Numbers
When this writer first started researching the DRPK’s spec ops capabilities back in 1999 (a few short months before Yours Truly enlisted in the US Air Force), I did so via the excellent book “North Korean Special Forces” by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. (published by Naval Institute Press and still considered to be the definitive open-source scholarly work on the topic).
At the time, NK SOFs numbered 1,000,000. They thus constituted 10 percent of the Korean People’s Army’s (KPA) total manpower, making them the most significant special operations force in both absolute numbers and as a percentage.
Hwasong-12 IRBM. Image Credit: North Korea State Media.
Today, those aggregate DPRK SOF numbers are even higher, at 200,000, thus comprising 15.3% of the Hermit Kingdom’s 1.3 million active-duty troops.
Just How Tough Are They?
Some pundits go so far as to claim that the North Korean spec ops troops are *THE* toughest in the world (yes, tougher than any of the American or European units mentioned in the opening paragraph of this article).
While that claim may be highly debatable, no question being an SOF troop in such a miserable country as North Korea—where absolute, unquestioned, undying loyalty to the Comrade Kim regime is the only law of the land—requires a certain extra degree of mental and emotional as well as physical toughness.
And though the old Spike TV series “Deadliest Warrior” needs to be taken with a grain of salt, for what it’s worth, in the “Rangers vs. North Koreans” episode, the former just barely defeated the latter, thus providing “the closest contrast in Deadliest Warrior history.”
According to Maxwell Goldstein in an October 20, 2024, report for Grey Dynamics, “Modern-day KPA special forces stand in marked contrast compared to their peers in the regular North Korean army (source). A May 2013 US Department of Defense report notes that “North Korean SOF are among the most highly trained, well-equipped, best-fed, and highly motivated forces in the KPA.’ As North Korea lags further behind an ever-advancing world, it will likely rely more on its SOF capabilities (source). Indeed, the KPA’s reference to SOF is indicative of this notion. The Navy calls them ‘human torpedoes,’ the Air Force, the ‘invincibles,’ and the Army, ‘human bombs protecting the centre of the revolution.'”
Image Credit: KCNA/DPRK State Media.
Some Specific NK SOF Units
(Also courtesy of Mr. Goldstein)
-12 x Light infantry/mechanized light infantry; elite shock troops which are attached to regular units and tasked with securing vital locations on the frontline and attacking enemy command posts.
-“Three Reconnaissance brigades:” operating behind enemy lines to open paths for regular units, kidnapping and assassinating key enemy high-value targets (i.e., senior military officers and political leaders), destroying logistical depots, and conducting recon.
-Three Airborne brigades: functioning as they did in WWII, operating as blocking forces to stop ROK (Republic of Korea, i.e., South Korea) units from overwhelming KPA (Korean People’s Army) beachheads, destroying or capturing enemy logistics bases, and capturing key terrain.
-Three General Sniper Brigades: are assigned to infiltrate ROK defenses and operate from the rear. To facilitate this, these snipers will disguise themselves as ROK troops, attack vulnerable command and control outposts, and attempt to foment a general insurrection among the civilian population.
-Two Navy sniper brigades: provided with basically the same task as their army counterparts; they also have the additional capacity to use “hi-speed boats and LCACs” (Landing Craft Air Cushion, a type of hovercraft) in attacks on naval targets.
K2 Black Panther. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-Two Air Force sniper brigades: designated to attack ROK airbases (such as Osan and Kunsan) and disrupt their operations, thus necessitating the USAF Security Forces’ own Close Precision Engagement (counter-sniper) teams.
Now, to keep things in perspective (lest this come across as an alarmist piece depicting the NK SOFs as unstoppable supermen), in addition to American spec ops teams, the South Koreans also have their own homegrown special operators, the ROK Marines.
NK SOK Weapons
-Handgun: Baek Du San, an unlicensed locally-built copy of the Czech-designed CZ-75 traditional double-action (TDA) 9x19mm semiauto pistol (previously, the North Koreans used the Soviet-designed Makarov PM [Pistolet Makarova] 9x18mm TDA autopistol)
-Machine Pistols: Czech-designed vz.61 Skorpion 7.65mm machine pistol
-Rifles: AK-105 and Type 88 variants of the Soviet-designed AK-74 5.45x39mm assault rifle; also, some local copies of the American-made Colt M16A1 and South Korean Daewoo K2 5.56x45mm NATO rifles (in order to provide the North Koreans hands-on familiarity with their adversaries’ small arms)
About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert
Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He is also the author of the newly published book “Five Decades of a Fabulous Firearm: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beretta 92 Pistol Series.”
