North Korean airborne forces have conducted exercises simulating an assault on enemy held outposts, demonstrating “their combat capability to occupy the enemy region at a stroke once an order is issued,” according to state media reports. Exercises were “aimed at inspecting the paratroopers’ readiness to be mobilized for any operational plan in surprise wartime circumstances.” The exercise was one of several over the past month to have tested the capabilities of the country’s ground forces, following demonstrations of the capabilities of artillery, rocket artillery, tank and helicopter assault units. These exercises were all held in response to joint U.S. and South Korean 11 day Freedom Shield exercises which simulated a mass air assault on North Korea, with the latest drill by airborne forces following calls by South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won Sik for preparations to rapidly assassination the northern leadership in the event of new hostilities between the two states. The minister at the time stressed the need to “strengthen our capabilities so that we can overwhelm them.”
Chairman of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party Kim Jong Un observed the latest exercises as he did the previous ones, praising the airborne troops and stressing that they were clearly trained “not only in ideological and political terms, but also militarily, technically and physically.” He stressed the importance of “applying realistic and scientific training methods” for “achieving maximum fighting efficiency on actual battlefields as required by modern warfare.” The chairman was accompanied by Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party Pak Jong Chon, Defence Minister Kang Sun Nam and Chief of the General Staff Ri Yong Gil. The exercises were followed two days later on March 18 by a further show of force, namely the test firing of ballistic missiles by the country of the first time in two months. This coincided with a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the South Korean capital Seoul for a summit on “advancing democracy,” following calls by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol earlier in the month to “expand the universal values of freedom and human rights” and bring “freedom” to North Korea. This was interpreted as an ideological call for destruction of the North Korean state, which the United States and the current South Korean administration consider insufficiently aligned with their political values. As well as its lack of a westernised political system, North Korea is also one of the few countries in the region with no U.S. or Western military presence on its soil.
Alongside airborne forces, the Korea People’s Army maintains the largest special forces in the world, with estimates of their numbers ranging from 180,000 to 200,000 personnel. These units have been seen on multiple occasions conducting airborne assaults, including using wooden bi-planes well optimised to avoiding radar and infrared detection. Paratroopers from regular forces have been seen deploying from larger and longer ranged aircraft, as seen in the latest exercises when Il-76 transports were used, and are expected to mount larger more conventional and frontal assaults, where special forces deploy by air from behind enemy lines. As North Korea has comprehensively modernised its armed forces over the past decade, with fighter aviation being a notable exception, ground units including paratroopers and airborne special forces have been seen equipped with increasingly sophisticated equipment, ranging from their more modern uniforms to night vision goggles. Entirely new command and control and communications equipment has also been employed.
Preceding the latest simulated airborne assault, on March 6 ground forces conducted a simulated helicopter assault on enemy guard outposts, fast roping down and employing heavy man-portable weapons including rocket launchers. These exercises were also supervised by Chairman Kim Jong Un, Defence Minister Kang Sun Nam, and Chief of General Staff Ri Yong Gil. The chairman “learned in detail about the facilities and training grounds in the base” and “received a report on the program for actual manoeuvres of the units planned that day before guiding the drill,” according to state media reports. The Korean leader at the time highlighted the need for more rigorous drills to “successfully control even their slightest attempt to ignite a war,” stressing that the armed forces needed to remain vigilant to adapt to all “aspects of changing and developing modern warfare.”