I'm used to reading a lot for these pieces - but I have to admit reading hundreds of pages of DPRK material on how incredible the Kim family are was a weird change of pace. Had a bit of a "powergamer writes a background story for their OP D&D character" vibe to it, but got there in the end. There is no defence economics lesson in that, I'm just making sense of the hours spent. Hope you enjoy the episode.
"Now, under present conditions, I'm not sure how deterred many Americans would be with the threatened nuclear destruction of Washington DC. But they would probably be very sad to see anything happen to Seoul or Tokyo" -Perun 2024
I was first like "Yeah, 'cause North Korean missiles can't reach DC." Then I re-read that line and realized the alternative interpretation and... oh god, that's a bigger burn than in 1814!
@@petermoore5981OMG could Nina give Weird Al permission?! Sadly, it's probably too late. The video... I'm imagining a video, with the red balloon traveling around South Korean landmarks... but with a bag hanging down... and at the end, some random Mexican kids piñata it, and it turns out tha it had been full of choco pies, all along!
Point of order: NK does not struggle to provide its citizens with _anything._ In order to be struggling, by definition, you have to be _actually trying_ in the first place.
You forgot to mention how the Soviet Union also directly helped North Korea by sending its best fighter pilots to help combat American fighters. The Americans found this out via downed Mig-15's with dead Russian pilots in them, but kept quiet about it until Russia admitted this in the early 1990's. And even then, many books talked about this before Russia admitted it.
They sent the MiG-15s to deal with F-80 Shooting Stars, F-84 Thunderjets and the few early French and British jets sent. F-86s were the first fighters the USAF sent that were a true match for the MiG-15.
@@josephahner3031 correct. And we found out Russians were flying MiG-15s because they spoke Russian on the radio. I have never heard of Russian bodies recovered from downed MiG-15s.
this wasn't a secret in the 1950 . however the us air force alome claimed to have shot down more mig 15 in korea than all the mig 15 manufacture in total before and during the korean war . best air force ever
I'm an ethnic Korean born in Seoul who became a US citizen in 78. My Dad was born in the North and when the Communists took over he had to flee to the South as his family owned as small Apple orchard and they were shooting any property owners, no matter how small the holdings were. I remember my Dad telling me a story about how Kim Il Sung explained the relationship NK had with both the US and China to his son Kim Jong Il. "The US is the angry wild bear growling at you from across the river. The only reason he doesn't cross over to eat you is the friendly wild bear (China) standing next to you growling back at him. But keep in mind that its still a wild bear. If the bear across the river loses interest in you and wanders away, that friendly bear next to you might remember that its still a wild bear and you would make for a tasty snack. So remember to always keep the US engaged no matter what you have to do so it wanders off." I'm sure Kim Jong Il passsed this story down to his own son, Kim Jong Un.
@@laststand6420 Given what a basket case NK is, I always wondered if it was still the case - why would anyone want another 25 myn starving dependents and a totally useless economy - for the wild ginseng? - there isn't enough of it to make it worthwhile. Then Kim Jong Un not only had his uncle Jang Song-thaek (married to his aunt and great-aunt) executed in 2013, and his oldest half-brother Kim Jong Nam assassinated in Kuala Lumpur in 2017. Kim Jong Nam had been the assumed succesor of Kim Jong Il until he was caught trying to sneak into Tokyo Disneyland in 2001 which forced his father to cancel a trip to China in 2001. Nam was apparently exiled to Macao, but was likely a replacement pawn the Chinese had decided to protect just in case they needed to remove Kim Jong Un. Un's uncle Jang had been in de-facto charge of NK during the last years of Kim Jong Il when he was never seen due to illness and supposedly guided the young Un's rise once he was chosen to replace Nam. He was the Nbr 2 in NK with a lot of power but apparently had been seen as too sympathetic to Nam and too close to the Chinese. So off with his head. Then when Nam made his ill-advised trip to Malaysia outside of Chinese protection, Un had him killed as well. So he obviously feared China would still try to replace him with Nam at some point. There is another brother, Kim Jong Chul who is considered unsuitable as a leader as he is too "feminine" so he is allowed to live quietly.
@@jongrho602 It wouldn't have to be a horrible little country. South Korea is one of the most prosperous places on earth(maybe a little too much so). North Korea has just been horribly mismanaged.
I want to illustrate the situation with two numbers. The entire economic output of North Korea was - according to the South Korean Statistics Bureau - estimated to be 36.2 trillion KRW (or 26 billion USD today) in 2022. In the same year, South Korea allocated 55.2 trillion KRW (or 39.7 billion USD today) to the national defense budget, 2.7% of the country's GDP (according to the World Bank). Just like how South Korea is strapping bunker busters on ballistic missiles to substitute what it can't have, North Korea's nukes is an easy substitute to what it had lost in the 1990s - the ability to compete against South Korea with a conventional military. From here, several hundred kilometers to the south of Pyeongyang, it seems it is possible (if not probable) that North Korea is holding onto those big strategic weapons *because* of their small economy, not despite of it. North Korea is full of self-contradictions and ironies. They're sending shells to fight Putin's war, but at the same time emergency alert messages on my phone say North Korean shit is falling from the sky. They have resource to make and keep nukes, but they don't have resources to maintain their overseas diplomatic missions to the point where North Korean diplomats are sick of it and defecting to RoK. It is an amazing feat that Perun kept this video this much comprehensible despite the chaotic subject matter.
@@zacklewis342 There is one thing this video doesn't mention and I suspect it's because this one is less of a defense economics in North Korea but more related to geopolitics in South Korea instead. It is a weapons/technology sharing agreement between Russia and South Korea. On paper this agreement has been active since the 1990s to present day, and we here colloquially call it the "불곰사업(bulgomsaeop, roughly meaning the Brown Bear Initiative)". When Russia defaulted on its debt in the 1990s, South Korea signed this agreement with Russia and got some of its receivable debt back with military hardware and technology instead. In this agreement Russia promised South Korea never to sell new weapons to North Korea ever again as long as South Korea doesn't share its new Russian technology with other countries as well. South Korea has more modern Russian tanks (specifically T-80Us) than North Korea but to honor the agreement with Russia South Korea didn't send them to Ukraine, and further avoid antagonizing its "trade partner" South Korea is not (for now) sending any of its domestic weapons and ammunitions directly to Ukraine as well. This agreement between two countries is one of the biggest reasons why today's North Korean military uses decades-old stuffs from the Soviet era. They has to maintain decades-old MiGs because Russians doesn't sell newer jets to North Korea anymore. In a nutshell North Korean military became a museum partly because I like Russian mackerels and Russians like South Korean cup noodles. At least that was the status quo until Russia said they will be breaking their part of the deal in June 2024. I've never seen an official spokesperson in my country say on camera a diplomatic equivalent of "they f-ed around and they shall find out step by step" against a foreign country. Like I said, it's not as simple as it seems. A de jure frozen war from 70 years ago has been in fact anything but frozen.🫠
31:31 Common mistake, but these figures do not take into account the population of either the Canadian goose or moose, which form the basis of our military strategy (CADGOOMOO)
Splendid! While Ukraine has to rely on their tractors for effective defense in the deep, Canada has an open source, renewable Cavalry group and airforce!
General: So we are short on resources. Maybe we should focus on just one aspect. Which one should it be? Air? Sea? Mechanized? Infantry? Artillery? Rockets? Nuclear? Kim Jon Un: Yes
North Korea, aka the Best Korea, has a very good economy, very economical, some people say it's the best economy in the world. A lot of people say that.
I mean they do have a command economy... it's kind of critical to their whole _communist-dictatorship-with-aspirations-of-autarky_ thing. like I get where you are coming from but they do technically have an economy. that and a significant black market / grey market
As a South Korean I was quite impressed by your assessment of ROK armed forces, and this video on KPA is also very good, really tells me how much effort you spent on researches. One thing I'd like to mention is that North Koreans aren't as brainwashed as some westerners tend to believe - it used to be, and it still is one of the worst cases, but the arrival of digitial age made it very hard to perfectly quarantine information. As you mentioned, activists are sending USB memory sticks to NK, as a viable mean of reaching the mass - let that sink in. There are quite a few people in NK who actually have devices to read them. Executing a poor boy who shared some songs is just a desperate measure to contain the ongoing damage, and it'll probably never work.
Good point, and I guess that's why the penalties for consuming South Korean media are so severe. Enough gets through so that the North Korean government knows it's a problem.
I watch a lot of Korean dramas and I have noticed that they tend to emphasize connection with the North Korean people (not the government, which seems to be much less present in these shows) and on the tragedy of separation. If you look at shows, for example, like "Crash Landing on You" or "The King 2 Hearts", they really seem to be avoiding the idea of North Korea as the enemy. In fact (at least in dramas), it seems like you see a lot more emphasis on the struggle for independence from Japanese occupation than on the Korean War (I think in South Korea it is called the 6.25 War?). I have been curious in the past if this is a conscious thing on the part of South Korean show writers, possibly because they know their shows will end up in the North, or if it just reflects how the South Korean public generally feels.
@@steelytemplar That's how it's always been in the both Korean media for decades, including TV shows, movies, novels, cartoons, etc. Both Korea's been taking the position of 'hate the government, not people' stance.There's no denying that the Korean War and seperation were a heartbreaking and unnecessary tragedy. It's just that North Korea's been claiming that South attacked first (and somehow NK managed to fight back so well under the glorious leader's command that they took SK capital in only 3 days and pushed all the way south so easily) and caused all that. SK doesn't do lots of propaganda those days (they don't need to), but lots of old materials I know told people how much life sucks in NK because of the glorious leader and he must be disposed of, while NK still does a lot about how SK is a hellhole because of exploitive imperialist of USA and greedy capitalists (which holds some truth, I guess) and NK need to 'liberate' SK (which does not). I think there would be two reasons behind this: First, the Korean War's choatic nature left many friends, relatives and families lost, divided across two nations, especially when civilians tried to fled warzones. You can't really tell people to hate their lost family member on the other side. Sadly this trend is dying out because, well, those seperated people are mostly dead to due to old age nowadays. Second. Both SK and NK thought reunification could began any day - hence, too much hostility would not help when that eventually happens. Again this is also a dying trend because people are more accepting that it won't be coming any soon.
@@nematic529 Jim Dunnigan and Austin Bay have said on their website/podcast that South Korea saw how German reunification was a lot more difficult and expensive than anyone had thought, and swallowed hard. Also, it seems realistic that Communist China would not take kindly to reunification on the South's terms.
@nematic529 I appreciate the insight into the matter. I think that it's easy for Westerners to think of the Korean War as the central conflict of the ROK's modern history. It certainly was a massive, important, and consequential one. As you said, the wounds were not only from the fighting, but from families and friends being forced apart. Yet modern South Korea was also greatly shaped by the fight for independence from the Japanese occupation and the fight for the establishment of a true democratic system. From a brutal foreign occupation to an existential war to claiming democracy by the will of the people in a single century. It's a complex and inspiring story. As an American, I'm glad that we have aided South Korea in the past and hope we do so in the future so long as our assistance is wanted. Still, it should only be our role to be an ally. The matter of North and South should be, if it is at all possible, for the Korean people to decide - not the United States or China. I don't know if that is realistically how things will happen, but it is at least how things ought to be. I'm not surprised that thoughts about things like unification are changing over time. As I understand it, even the dialect in the two countries is diverging a fair amount. Even if unification is possible, it's a massive undertaking involving two societies that have spent many decades apart now.
Iraq was mostly a normal country. It wasnt isolated and didnt have weird "religious" beliefs. North Korea is a lot different and ultimately China wants a buffer zone. It is up to China to make North Korea somewhat normal. Also North Korea has nukes, that changes everything. Imagine them losing, their missiles are getting intercepted and in their desperation, they give ISIS a nuke. ISIS can "easily" drive a nuke to Paris or Moscow.
Saddam's army was a weird mix&match of fanatics trained and motivated beyond anything Russia ever fielded, and conscripts+semi-conscripts just in it for the money. Plus in the Korean War, China threw political troops into the fray who kept fighting until dead. We've an armistice only because China ran out of those indoctrinated brigades and had to bring in 2nd tier troops. Japanese troops indoctrinated not just with Shinto but also ideas that the US troops were all black cannibals who would eat them, were often woefully outgunned and unsupplied and still inflicted 25-35% of the losses they took during insane banzai-charges. In any fullscale war involving North Korea we have to be prepared for the same but worse: Kim Jong Whoever no doubt has crack divisions who are deeply indoctrinated and will fight untill they're basically at 100% KIA. Admittedly, once the ROK is done stacking bodies from those (and make no mistake that will be horrid), there's probably a few unenthousiatic brigades being sent in who will fire 3 shots for symbolism before inquiring about the way to the nearest POW camp.
@@DeHergI’d imagine it’s more like keeping your father’s medals on the mantle, except you show them off in public. The other people they deal with presumably understand the idea behind it
I've found you on your coverage of Russian Turtle Tanks, and now you've given a fair and expansive coverage of the World's Only Hermit Kingdom and it's theoretical and fictional army. Hearing the DPRK and their strategy of massive Behind-enemy-lines attacks and a Sprint to Victory reminds me of a game I played in the Playstation One: Nuclear Strike. At one point - the story of the game involves North Korea being bombed with a nuclear weapon with intelligence pointing fingers to South Korea - so in retalitation, North Korea has mobilized all it has and broke the 38th parallel to invade the South. The game depicts DPRK Armored divisions comprising of heavy armor cocktails that's a mix of tanks from the 50's and Soviet made weapons from the Cold War, though obsolete as it is, it is shown in game as a literal horde and lines of armor heading south. The invasion force is also supported by DPRK Special Forces - who, though little in number, is able to break the lines of the 38th parallel through tunnels creeping from North to South, utilizing SCUD's and artillery to destroy communication lines, logistics and suplly lines, and even a submarine raid! Well, the mission ends after you, an attack helicopter pilot continually sabotage DPRK efforts to invade for a good 25 minutes - and then NATO/US Heavy bombers just obliterate the North Korean advance, just like that. And that's how I would see it if North Korea does indeed decide to invade or no longer bluff. They throw as much as they can - only to be near-annihilated with a ghastly number of losses under the orders of an outdated military initiative, having used outdated equipment, and lived to die under an outdated ideology. Subbed. Looking forward to more. Cheers.
@@zacklewis342 contries not wanting to be dominated by the global US hegemonic system are not “hermit kingdoms”. NK has allies, they are just people you dislike
The closing comment being a perfect summary, and of course, Perun hit the nail on the head with the entire presentation: NK is seriously ridiculous and also ridiculously serious.
Lets be real, invading South Korea would be like invading an alien planet for an North Korean Soldier. Every push through the dmz would stop immediatly when it reaches the first small town and then all the North koreans would go looting like we have seen by the russian in Ukraine but on a far more larger scale. As soon as the push is stopped somewere we would see mass desertions of soldiers hoping to get a better life in this utopian paradies they just got to witness the first time.
I wouldn't really expect such a thing to happen. After all north Korean troops tho poor and unmotivated they have families on the north and communities in the north are far stronger than on the south, that's why ironically north Korean people is often happier than south Korean people despite literally starving, something similar happens in African nations. So I would 100% expect looting, SA, mass executions and all other evil stuff to take place. But desertion?? Not in a million years.
@@fearlesspotato3429 "they have families on the north" In other words, hostages. If you desert, then your family gets sent to a concentration camp. "communities in the north are far stronger than on the south" What do you base this upon? What about things like the people in every community whose job it is to watch and inform on their neighbors? How can you be close with your community if every person you open up to might inform on you to the government? "that's why ironically north Korean people is often happier than south Korean people" How do you get that information? I very much doubt that very many people still living in North Korea would actually admit that they were anything but happy if they are asked, given that complaining in any way could very quickly result in a visit from the Bowibu (state police). I can't think of any way to measure the happiness of the North Korean population either way, to be honest. That being said, the fact that people regularly risk their lives to escape from North Korea, there is a non-trivial portion of the population which is not at all happy there. For that matter, if the North Korean people are so happy and loyal, why is it that the North Korean government doesn't allow their citizens to freely leave the country? And, by that, I mean truly being able to leave freely, not going abroad to work as a government employee or as part of a government sponsored work program.
@@steelytemplar being happy and loyal and being free, are far different things. And by far the greatest way to see if a population is happy or not is to see how many kids they have, unhappy populations tend to not have hope I'm the future and not have children as a result, all western nations are a good example of that, while very poor nations often have far stronger communities that give the people involved a more happier existance and as result despite the poverty they have far more children. North Korea has a far more stable population than the south, a clear indication that their communities are stronger and the people involved in them feel more satisfied despite the poverty. Community ties are by far the most important aspect of human societies, strong communities make up for loyal people. And yes from time to time some north Koreans attempt to leave the north and by doing do risk their lives, like everything a stronger community is not something that everyone involved in a nation gets, the majority sure but not everyone. There will always be people that aren't as happy as the average. For a variety of reasons, maybe they fail to create community ties, maybe they fail as basic social status within their group, or they are an oppressed group amongst other things. However that hardly is an indication of the overall state of a system. When the people on a system are highly oppressed and unhappy they don't have kids. A modern example is the USSR and modern Britain two totalitarian states that oppress their populations and allow zero reform and as a result both nations collapsed their birth rates.
@@obsidianjane4413 very substantive response, your worldview certainly holds up to scrutiny. Place me into whatever neat little box you want to avoid critical thinking
@@obsidianjane4413 he’s leeching with bait replies. Helps the algorithm at least which is pretty funny. With the various spelling mistakes and thinking the west is tyranny with substantive support it’s probably hacked or bored on a Sunday and trying to rage bait.
It seems that North Korea's Achilles heel is logistics. As many have known, and most have learned that logistics and support are the greater proportion of any military force. The DRPK doesn't appear to have embraced that principle.
Probably not. It is much harder to quantify logistics capacity with something as opaque as the DPRK, or more precisely the KPA. Very likely the ENTIRE country's notional transportation system, trucks, trains, horse carts, etc. can/will/planned to be quickly mobilized to support the military. So while it looks like they don't have much, if you are counting trucks and warehouses. This is from assuming that they will have the same kind of dedicated logistical system as Western armies do, and not that the entirety of Norkland is the KPA's.
Agreed that complete mobilization (including slave labor from those you can't trust) can do a lot for months. Eventually they would be starving that lowest group though. The other big factor is that China doesn't love NK, but it also knows that if NK falls/is invaded, there would be millions of cult members fleeing into China. At least a third of them would be unlikely to stop believing that their leader is a demigod. Not the kind of stuff that China likes inside its borders. NK is a problem for them, but they want to keep their crazy next door neighbors next door, not crashing in their basement. So China might provide a lot of logistics equipment or whatever was needed to maintain at least a buffer between RoK and China.
@@dreamcoyote China doesn't want the disruption and risk of a Korean war and everything that follows it. They also do not want a unified Korea with the South's modern industrial economy and the North's underutilized resources and population.
@@obsidianjane4413Nah, the entirity of North Korea's transportation system is a stinking mess after decades of economic disasters and corruptions. South Korea actually did some formal inspection during relatively peaceful times of early 2000s, looking for some possible investment opportunities, and the conclusion was exactly that. There are stories of trains traveling across the North Korean countyside for weeks, going on and off, becase they ran out of parts, fuel or electricity and have to wait for them.
of note: North Korea actually sides mostly with the Soviet union after the sino-soviet split, and it only really after the cold war that the PRC became an ally of North Korea.
Well, you have to understand... right up through the end of the Soviet Union, it was one of the world's 2 miltary superpowers. The PLA, OTOH, was... not modernized. In 1986, if you were choosing whether to get weapons from the CCCP or China... and you chose China... the entire room would've suddenly busted out laughing at you.
The US haf 300+ warheads and 100+ long range Strategic Bombers capable of hitting the PRC and USSR. No ComBloc natuon had any means of actually delivering any of the Soviets handful of nuclear Weapons. There really was no need to play favorites.
So North Korea decided to try zerg rushing and is now losing because the enemies went for economy. A perfect analogy for our fans of videogames and military procurement strategies here :D.
Only made possible because a global superpower was willing and able to freeze the borders and support the long process of spinning up that economy. Notably the Zerg rush concept did very nearly work at the start.
Honestly with Songun being a thing it kinda surprises me that North Korea hasn't gone full 'Literally everyone is in the military. Everyone. From the moment you are born, you have a rank.'
In order to run a military you still need people to do basic tasks like producing food or keep the state running etc. North Korea has probably enlisted as many people as a country could possibly afford forgoing all other aspects of society. They have a larger percentage of their population in the military than Ukraine and Ukraine is actually fighting for it´s existance.
20:00 Those are not the most problematic funding sources. Slave sales are. Of course the entire population are effectively treated as slaves to Kim, but there are literal price-per-head sales into russian logging camp and chinese brothels. En masse.
@@12pentaborane years ago there was a vice documentary about north korean logging camps in russia, dont know if you can still find it here though ruclips.net/video/awQDLoOnkdI/видео.html
Michael Malice did a wonderful English edition of Kim Jong Un's biography titled "Dear Reader" if anyone is interested in it. It is 100% DPRK propaganda approved and all the more hilarious for this fact. I found it on Audible and it was a laugh riot.
Oh wow, this is the video I didn't know I wanted. North Korea has always been an oddball to me: a basket-case economy that still manages to support a very dangerous military. Can't wait to watch the video. Thanks Perun!
I'm not sure how dangerous the DPRK is to countries other than Japan, ROK,and China. Russia's performance in Ukraine has been staggeringly inept and they were comparatively flush with new weapons, oil, and cash before hand!
A theoretically dangerous military. Whether or not an army that hasn't fought a large scale war since the 1950s and has no economic base to support it in the field is actually dangerous or not is up for debate.
If there is one thing to be learned from what’s happening in Ukraine is that it’s hard to know how a military will perform until it actually gets to perform.
No plan survives the first contact with enemy. Although in this case it's questionable whether it would survive long enough to even contact said enemy.
21:35 - at the beginning of this year, they actually pivoted on this strategic goal, with Kim renouncing the North's goal of reunification with the South, tearing down a reunification monument, and stripped mention of reunification from the constitution
It's unheard-of to my knowledge for DPRK leadership to openly say their past approach was a mistake. The approach has on past occasions been quietly redirected, but always without any admission of error.
Great video as always, been watching since 2022, haven't missed a video. Thanks for all your efforts and expertise, you should be proud of yourself for creating this wonderful reosurce
Being concerned seems sensible. I wouldn't be worried about it, really. Even with instructions from Russia, I don't think NK could put together a very reliable system. I also suspect that their nuclear arsenal has a shorter shelf life than those in the US and Russia. They are producing fissile material, but the longer they don't use it, the more they have to create to replace it.
I don’t think Russia is sharing nuclear material with them, neither is China. They don’t even like having NK there but it’s a useful bulwark against the west, they will call upon North Korean aid if either of them ever got attacked, but they wouldn’t actually lift a finger to help North Korea if they started an aggressive action
Funnily enough, North Korea has 3-generation hereditary system, which includes military decorations, which is why those officer's chests are full of medals.
I LOVE research on NK. One of the most interesting ongoing social experiments we somehow call a "country" - I wish and hope freedom and peace for all those trapped within it's caged borders.
@@strategystuff5080 well Russia is actually fighting a war, and slowly winning it. So yes. I mean Germany advanced a lot less in WW1 in France than Russia has. But no one denies Germany was in fact competent. Being competent doesn't mean you erase a country from the face of the earth in 2 days. What america did in Iraq was a completely different context. If Iraq hadn't been already destroyed after 8 years of war with Iran the American Invasion would have turned out to be a lot longer.
Your ability to inform is never less than amazing. Thank you for your dedication and work. Always looking forward to you analysis and explanations. Thank you for keeping laymen like me in the know. Glad you’re better and wish you all the best health.
If you have Netflix and are interested in watching actual footage of a family escaping from North Korea then I must suggest Beyond Utopia. It is a stunning documentary, indeed one of the most captivating productions I have ever seen. I find it to be mind boggling that if defectors are detained in the countries surrounding North Korea they are deported back to surely be tortured, sent to a gulag, and/or killed. I didn't realize North Korea has such good relations with the surrounding countries that must be navigated as a sort of underground railroad to the South. Are those countries afraid of kicking the hornets nest? No one ought to be trapped in a place like North Korea, although it seems that most of the population are totally brainwashed into believing their country is the very best on Earth. Anyhow, I enjoyed this excellent video. I am so glad I found Perun and look forward to binge watching the other videos as well.
We shouldn’t underestimate NKs tunnel network. Look how hard Israel is struggling to find Hamas tunnels in Gaza which is flat and much smaller. NK is very mountainous and have basically been building massive hive of tunnels for decades. The ISR would be a nightmare.
@@GraemeHein NK has built huge tunnels INTO SK. Large enough for armoured formations to pass through They also tunnels to infiltrate spy’s & saboteurs A tunnel has been found every once in awhile
Terrific exposition of North Korean capabilities, limitations and potential. NIK is the 2 year old calling attention to itself with temper tantrums but they cannot be ignored. You put them in perspective. We can't ignore them but we shouldn't be obsessed by them either. They are a wild card. Thanks for the work that went into this. BTW, you sound like your old self. Good to hear.
Given the poor quality of north Korean ammunition (according to russian cannon fodder), i´m curious, if the 90 year old tanks are even able to leave their current positions without a crane and half of the chassis not moving when lifted.
Great video, as always, very well presented. I had a blast watching it. I just wanted to add a bit, coming from a native Korean with experience as a liaison officer between ROK and USFK forces for operational sustainment(intentionally being vague as I don't want to dox myself haha), and as someone who's got to work with the ROK Ambassador-at-Large for NK human rights. The part on NK capabilities for conventional bombardment against the Seoul Capital Area (SCA) is indeed a headache. That is why ROK has a heavy focus on artillery, I must say. I haven't yet seen your ROK defense strategy video, so you may have covered it, but the focus on counterbattery fire is extreme. I can't divulge on the COCOM command structure in times of war nor on concrete numbers, but the simulations, exercises, and briefings I've translated for tell quite the story. Imagine what all the K9 Thunder inventory of ROK and all its detection capability hyperfocused for one task can do, and I think it would be about on par with expectations. Yes, damage will be done against a region home to half of our population, but the focus is to cut short that damage within a very short time frame. And I am confident it can be done. Second, I think it's worth asking with DPRK defense spending this key question: "where does it get all the money from?" You did mention many arms of the illicit means by which DPRK gathers its funds, such as hacking. However, the funds gathered by hacking cannot alone fund the DPRK war machine. This is where the Ambassador drew connections to security issues and human rights, which is not a connection I was really prepared to make nor I have thought of. The idea is, DPRK must and is confirmed to have withheld critical resources to a subset of its own population to scrounge up whatever resources it can to fund missile tests and its nuclear program. The confirmation I refer to are studies conducted by the Ministry of Reunification which, I'm aware, many Western watchers do not consider a wholly impartial party to this issue. However, it is worth mentioning that the ministry maintains some of the most comprehensive DPRK database and long running programs in peer reviewed academia. Therefore, the daily meager existence of a portion of DPRK citizens--namely the lower, enemy class as per its songbun system, are primary targets for deprivation of resources. What ever means of state revenue DPRK has is further 'enlarged' by withholding spending on basic necessities to its people, to a degree where starvation had been rampant up until its weapons sales to Russia. Even then, resources were not distrubuted regularly to those in subsistence living. I thought this point where state sanctioned human rights violations and defense economics crossover was very interesting and a new perspective which I really hadn't considered.
Correcting an incorrect statement: While North Korea was considered more prosperous than South Korea in the 1950s and 1960s, South Korea consistently had a population size approximately twice as large as North Korea's.
If you are referring to 15:35 "South Korea's population now is about twice that of the north and their" I don't believe he was stating there had been significant population change as a result of economic divergence. Depends what weight you put on the importance of "now". I can see how you could interpret that to mean there had been a change but he does not go on to hold that as particularly significant. He was leading into a comparison of military capacity and the effect an economic distortion a long term priority of a large proportion towards military could shift an economy roughly twice that of the South at end of WW2 with half the population to one "now" with GDP approximately 1/35th that of the South, or 1/10th in PPP GDP. Any statistics from a country under occupation and then at war are probably not particularly reliable anyway. He asserts that there is a "sweet spot" where too much spending is deleterious to the economy and counterproductive to military effectiveness. In the later scenario he presents a country spending 4% (edit) compared to 2% will likely have more capacity in the long run. The illustration is that to then spend 34% does not make them 8 or 15 times as capable decades later. He doesn't say this is about Koreas , indeed he says the comparison is otherwise identical 16:11. I can see how you could link that with the previous statement of double population "now" to mean they started off equal but he did not state that.
@@johncarlaw8633 Perun appears to have removed the incorrect statement, which came earlier while comparing the economic state of the two sides prior to the Korean War around 7-8 min mark. Someone else also pointed out the same mistake with the time marked after me. To add context, during the Japanese occupation, heavy industries were built mostly in the northern half of Korean peninsula, accounting for the statement about North being wealthier and more powerful. However, population was always larger in the south side, more suited for agriculture emphasized by the Chosun dynasty.
Perun, I never watched your gaming channel but I did stumble on "All Bling No Basics" the second day it was released. So I appreciate the video game references, RE: AOE and Starcraft that continue to this day.
During WW2 Germany and Japan were working on nuke bombs. Both were too late, but the Japanese facility was where North Korea today has its nuclear facilities. Funny that?
Thank you 💛 Perun, I enjoyed this episode. I remember at one point seeing the difference in the lights being dark in North Korea, when others were lit up at night. Such a stark contrast. Ty again Perun! See you next week.
28:00 You missed the single most important goal of north korea. The goal of North Korea's strategy is to deter the West from interfering or worse. It's designed to make any victory a Pyrrhic one.
About those 1000 Volvo 144 cars in 1974 Volvo was a bit suspicous. Sweden state put up some export guarantee and have since then sent reminders to pay twice a year. 🚗🚙
Perun at long last endorses the Glorious Only Korea! Emutopia ain’t got shit on the Divine Dynasty of Pektu Mountain! May we all be dominated by Great Leader’s Vindictive Fist!
Me - enjoying hot cup of coffee. Perun - "... With a vegetable garden on deck..." Me - coffee exits via nose followed by a ten minute coughing fit. Cheers 🇬🇧
If I recall correctly, South Korea has an active artillery park of over 12,000 pieces, plus a stupidly huge reserve. That means that the DPRK would have to knock out South Korean artillery at a rate of 1.5 to one to achieve fire superiority. . . . Call me skeptical.
Guys I'm starting to think whenever North Korea does one of those Missile Launches as a show of power they're actually genuinely aiming at Japan or South Korea, the targeting systems are simply so bad they never hit their mark
Ah yes, the 4x player that blows their whole budget on the military, then cries, urinates, and defecates on themselves in their efforts to beg for aid. Straight out of Sseth's playbook.
Look at the history of Canadians in Korea. A Canadian Regiment held off a partial Chinese ARMY GROUP for 72 hours. This was also done with fire on their positions of sufficient quantity that a meter of the hilltop surface was removed.
Not a fan of the Chinese. But im sure its the Canadians holding against a Chinese corp sized group. While its not 1:100, its still 1:20 and still commendable
@@3dcomrade It was the 2nd Battalion, PPCLI at the battle of Kap Yong. 3 Companies IIRC and while estimates vary, the odds were more like 50:1 in favour of the Chinese. Thank God for the Kiwi 25 pounder Batteries and one heavy Battery of US Artillery in the background. The advantage the CDNs had was that their senior officers had learned the lesson of holding the high ground the hard way, fighting the Germans in Italy ten years earlier.
Honestly... this presentation style is amazing... (I find myself copying the style for my own presentations, it's a good balance of keeping interest, information and wittyness.
They've been dependent on foreign aid since the 1950s, but found the money for nuclear weapons. I don't care who plays what shell games, they're spending the foreign aid money on nuclear weapons. Thank you for covering this country Perun, I have encountered some of its defenders in real life and they are amazingly frustrating.
How? Do you think they're paying their own people in USD? The DPRK Won can be worth anything internally, essentially everyone works for free if you don't have to worry about global trade.
I believe Perun has actually discussed this issue in a previous video (probably discussing aid to Ukraine?) but non-military aid can, intentionally or not, be a proxy for military aid as it frees up the receiving nation's resources to be assigned to other tasks. Reducing the amount of financial and manpower resources the North Korean government needs to use to keep its population from starving unfortunately means it has greater ability to pursue other goals - including military ones. There's no need for direct corruption / mishandling of aid.
@@grantmonsma3569 This guy gets it. What you're describing is what I referred to as shell games. The net result of the food aid is not that the North Korean people get more food. Rather, the net result of the food aid is that the Kim Dynasty can spend more on nuclear weapons because they have less need to feed their people.
When you said "...North Korea has attempted various military and security efforts..." I heard "...North Korea has attempted various military INsecurity efforts" and it still fits. I would laugh if it weren't the North Korean people paying the price of the joke. Always a sad topic.
I'm used to reading a lot for these pieces - but I have to admit reading hundreds of pages of DPRK material on how incredible the Kim family are was a weird change of pace. Had a bit of a "powergamer writes a background story for their OP D&D character" vibe to it, but got there in the end. There is no defence economics lesson in that, I'm just making sense of the hours spent. Hope you enjoy the episode.
And now I want a D&D character sheet for Kim Jong Un.
NK truly is a master of unconventional warfare. We are still at peace, yet they've already damaged your psyche and schedule.
What class would each country be?
😂
@@PerunAU Kim Jong Un is absolutely a paladin. Of what? I leave to your imagination
"Now, under present conditions, I'm not sure how deterred many Americans would be with the threatened nuclear destruction of Washington DC. But they would probably be very sad to see anything happen to Seoul or Tokyo"
-Perun 2024
ITS TRUE
I was first like "Yeah, 'cause North Korean missiles can't reach DC."
Then I re-read that line and realized the alternative interpretation and... oh god, that's a bigger burn than in 1814!
I mean, if they get GOP POTUS or GOP congress... I will not cry for sure.
Don't mess with US manga/anime sources. We love it almost as much as we love oil.
real
"The great shit-balloon offensive of 2024"
Priceless.
I can already imagine the campaign medal designs. So many things you could do with that one.
Turn out to be just a lot of hot air.
@@hans953 You're thinking a gilded poop emoji, aren't you? Admit it! 😆
99 scheisseballons.
@@petermoore5981OMG could Nina give Weird Al permission?! Sadly, it's probably too late. The video... I'm imagining a video, with the red balloon traveling around South Korean landmarks... but with a bag hanging down... and at the end, some random Mexican kids piñata it, and it turns out tha it had been full of choco pies, all along!
Point of order: NK does not struggle to provide its citizens with _anything._
In order to be struggling, by definition, you have to be _actually trying_ in the first place.
wow good one how long did it take to come up with that?
I know this did numbers in a leddit comment section
You know you've made a good point when you got two trolls trying to insult you in the replies.
You forgot to mention how the Soviet Union also directly helped North Korea by sending its best fighter pilots to help combat American fighters. The Americans found this out via downed Mig-15's with dead Russian pilots in them, but kept quiet about it until Russia admitted this in the early 1990's. And even then, many books talked about this before Russia admitted it.
They sent the MiG-15s to deal with F-80 Shooting Stars, F-84 Thunderjets and the few early French and British jets sent. F-86s were the first fighters the USAF sent that were a true match for the MiG-15.
@@josephahner3031 correct. And we found out Russians were flying MiG-15s because they spoke Russian on the radio. I have never heard of Russian bodies recovered from downed MiG-15s.
@@josephahner3031 That's right. Thanks for the correction. I've now fixed the error.
this wasn't a secret in the 1950 . however the us air force alome claimed to have shot down more mig 15 in korea than all the mig 15 manufacture in total before and during the korean war . best air force ever
@@3211SD It was since nobody made this declassified until the 1990's.
I'm an ethnic Korean born in Seoul who became a US citizen in 78. My Dad was born in the North and when the Communists took over he had to flee to the South as his family owned as small Apple orchard and they were shooting any property owners, no matter how small the holdings were. I remember my Dad telling me a story about how Kim Il Sung explained the relationship NK had with both the US and China to his son Kim Jong Il. "The US is the angry wild bear growling at you from across the river. The only reason he doesn't cross over to eat you is the friendly wild bear (China) standing next to you growling back at him. But keep in mind that its still a wild bear. If the bear across the river loses interest in you and wanders away, that friendly bear next to you might remember that its still a wild bear and you would make for a tasty snack. So remember to always keep the US engaged no matter what you have to do so it wanders off." I'm sure Kim Jong Il passsed this story down to his own son, Kim Jong Un.
🏆 Best Korea in a nutshell ^^ 🏆
Thank you ❤
That's actually a really interesting point... I hadn't thought of them needing the US to keep back China.
@@laststand6420 Given what a basket case NK is, I always wondered if it was still the case - why would anyone want another 25 myn starving dependents and a totally useless economy - for the wild ginseng? - there isn't enough of it to make it worthwhile. Then Kim Jong Un not only had his uncle Jang Song-thaek (married to his aunt and great-aunt) executed in 2013, and his oldest half-brother Kim Jong Nam assassinated in Kuala Lumpur in 2017. Kim Jong Nam had been the assumed succesor of Kim Jong Il until he was caught trying to sneak into Tokyo Disneyland in 2001 which forced his father to cancel a trip to China in 2001. Nam was apparently exiled to Macao, but was likely a replacement pawn the Chinese had decided to protect just in case they needed to remove Kim Jong Un. Un's uncle Jang had been in de-facto charge of NK during the last years of Kim Jong Il when he was never seen due to illness and supposedly guided the young Un's rise once he was chosen to replace Nam. He was the Nbr 2 in NK with a lot of power but apparently had been seen as too sympathetic to Nam and too close to the Chinese. So off with his head. Then when Nam made his ill-advised trip to Malaysia outside of Chinese protection, Un had him killed as well. So he obviously feared China would still try to replace him with Nam at some point. There is another brother, Kim Jong Chul who is considered unsuitable as a leader as he is too "feminine" so he is allowed to live quietly.
@@jongrho602 That is some fascinating & important political intrigue I hadn't researched fully before 👍
Thank you very much Sir. 🏆❤️
@@jongrho602 It wouldn't have to be a horrible little country. South Korea is one of the most prosperous places on earth(maybe a little too much so). North Korea has just been horribly mismanaged.
I want to illustrate the situation with two numbers. The entire economic output of North Korea was - according to the South Korean Statistics Bureau - estimated to be 36.2 trillion KRW (or 26 billion USD today) in 2022. In the same year, South Korea allocated 55.2 trillion KRW (or 39.7 billion USD today) to the national defense budget, 2.7% of the country's GDP (according to the World Bank). Just like how South Korea is strapping bunker busters on ballistic missiles to substitute what it can't have, North Korea's nukes is an easy substitute to what it had lost in the 1990s - the ability to compete against South Korea with a conventional military. From here, several hundred kilometers to the south of Pyeongyang, it seems it is possible (if not probable) that North Korea is holding onto those big strategic weapons *because* of their small economy, not despite of it.
North Korea is full of self-contradictions and ironies. They're sending shells to fight Putin's war, but at the same time emergency alert messages on my phone say North Korean shit is falling from the sky. They have resource to make and keep nukes, but they don't have resources to maintain their overseas diplomatic missions to the point where North Korean diplomats are sick of it and defecting to RoK. It is an amazing feat that Perun kept this video this much comprehensible despite the chaotic subject matter.
Well the subject matter isn't chaotic. It's been extremely static since the early 50s.
What sort of resources do you need to maintain your overseas diplomatic missions?
@@TheSonOfDumb Foreign currency, for starters.
@@TheSonOfDumb If I had to work as a diplomat for the DPRK and also work two side gigs to fund my embassy, I'd also defect.
@@zacklewis342 There is one thing this video doesn't mention and I suspect it's because this one is less of a defense economics in North Korea but more related to geopolitics in South Korea instead. It is a weapons/technology sharing agreement between Russia and South Korea. On paper this agreement has been active since the 1990s to present day, and we here colloquially call it the "불곰사업(bulgomsaeop, roughly meaning the Brown Bear Initiative)". When Russia defaulted on its debt in the 1990s, South Korea signed this agreement with Russia and got some of its receivable debt back with military hardware and technology instead. In this agreement Russia promised South Korea never to sell new weapons to North Korea ever again as long as South Korea doesn't share its new Russian technology with other countries as well. South Korea has more modern Russian tanks (specifically T-80Us) than North Korea but to honor the agreement with Russia South Korea didn't send them to Ukraine, and further avoid antagonizing its "trade partner" South Korea is not (for now) sending any of its domestic weapons and ammunitions directly to Ukraine as well. This agreement between two countries is one of the biggest reasons why today's North Korean military uses decades-old stuffs from the Soviet era. They has to maintain decades-old MiGs because Russians doesn't sell newer jets to North Korea anymore.
In a nutshell North Korean military became a museum partly because I like Russian mackerels and Russians like South Korean cup noodles. At least that was the status quo until Russia said they will be breaking their part of the deal in June 2024. I've never seen an official spokesperson in my country say on camera a diplomatic equivalent of "they f-ed around and they shall find out step by step" against a foreign country. Like I said, it's not as simple as it seems. A de jure frozen war from 70 years ago has been in fact anything but frozen.🫠
31:31 Common mistake, but these figures do not take into account the population of either the Canadian goose or moose, which form the basis of our military strategy (CADGOOMOO)
Wow I didnt realize you were so cultured lmao.
The thought the Defence Strategy of Canada was to paint signs on their roofs with arrows saying "This way to Chicago, this way to Detroit. .. "
I thought Canadian defense strategic cornerstone was geese. Well ....
Splendid! While Ukraine has to rely on their tractors for effective defense in the deep, Canada has an open source, renewable Cavalry group and airforce!
@@rogerpoca9399those are SOCOM-equivalent
General: So we are short on resources. Maybe we should focus on just one aspect. Which one should it be? Air? Sea? Mechanized? Infantry? Artillery? Rockets? Nuclear?
Kim Jon Un: Yes
Kim Jong: I want special forces: 200000 soldiers riding 70 year old biplane s and wielding coil shaped - tin can - magazine AKs
@@nodirips_8537 Putin: _Taking notes._ 😅
@@nodirips_8537well you can't deny those forces are "special"
Also, medals...lots of medals.
I can't wait to see the economics of a country without an economy ;)
That is such a good comment!
Trade and Human Labor I suppose.
North Korea, aka the Best Korea, has a very good economy, very economical, some people say it's the best economy in the world. A lot of people say that.
I mean they do have a command economy... it's kind of critical to their whole _communist-dictatorship-with-aspirations-of-autarky_ thing. like I get where you are coming from but they do technically have an economy.
that and a significant black market / grey market
@@Syndr1 also the opium to pay for the nuclear weapon program
Perun and Covert Cabal video on the same day. Best weekend ever.
if only I can get some lines on maps with that, I'll be set for the whole week lol
@@cannackthat would be the cherry on top
And drachinifel's drydock too.
That mtlb is looking rare
who covert cabal
Here’s the economics…. Pulls out a post it note
I was expecting a blank page.
What is this? An economy for ants?!
@@silentdrew7636The post it note is blank but you still need something to write $0 on.
Wow the country his country commited genocide against is underdevloped? shocker
Yes he only used a post it not that said "North Korea Bad"
Let’s be honest, Perun - all of your videos are on the longer side, and we absolutely love them.
As a South Korean I was quite impressed by your assessment of ROK armed forces, and this video on KPA is also very good, really tells me how much effort you spent on researches. One thing I'd like to mention is that North Koreans aren't as brainwashed as some westerners tend to believe - it used to be, and it still is one of the worst cases, but the arrival of digitial age made it very hard to perfectly quarantine information. As you mentioned, activists are sending USB memory sticks to NK, as a viable mean of reaching the mass - let that sink in. There are quite a few people in NK who actually have devices to read them. Executing a poor boy who shared some songs is just a desperate measure to contain the ongoing damage, and it'll probably never work.
Good point, and I guess that's why the penalties for consuming South Korean media are so severe. Enough gets through so that the North Korean government knows it's a problem.
I watch a lot of Korean dramas and I have noticed that they tend to emphasize connection with the North Korean people (not the government, which seems to be much less present in these shows) and on the tragedy of separation. If you look at shows, for example, like "Crash Landing on You" or "The King 2 Hearts", they really seem to be avoiding the idea of North Korea as the enemy.
In fact (at least in dramas), it seems like you see a lot more emphasis on the struggle for independence from Japanese occupation than on the Korean War (I think in South Korea it is called the 6.25 War?).
I have been curious in the past if this is a conscious thing on the part of South Korean show writers, possibly because they know their shows will end up in the North, or if it just reflects how the South Korean public generally feels.
@@steelytemplar That's how it's always been in the both Korean media for decades, including TV shows, movies, novels, cartoons, etc. Both Korea's been taking the position of 'hate the government, not people' stance.There's no denying that the Korean War and seperation were a heartbreaking and unnecessary tragedy. It's just that North Korea's been claiming that South attacked first (and somehow NK managed to fight back so well under the glorious leader's command that they took SK capital in only 3 days and pushed all the way south so easily) and caused all that. SK doesn't do lots of propaganda those days (they don't need to), but lots of old materials I know told people how much life sucks in NK because of the glorious leader and he must be disposed of, while NK still does a lot about how SK is a hellhole because of exploitive imperialist of USA and greedy capitalists (which holds some truth, I guess) and NK need to 'liberate' SK (which does not).
I think there would be two reasons behind this: First, the Korean War's choatic nature left many friends, relatives and families lost, divided across two nations, especially when civilians tried to fled warzones. You can't really tell people to hate their lost family member on the other side. Sadly this trend is dying out because, well, those seperated people are mostly dead to due to old age nowadays. Second. Both SK and NK thought reunification could began any day - hence, too much hostility would not help when that eventually happens. Again this is also a dying trend because people are more accepting that it won't be coming any soon.
@@nematic529 Jim Dunnigan and Austin Bay have said on their website/podcast that South Korea saw how German reunification was a lot more difficult and expensive than anyone had thought, and swallowed hard. Also, it seems realistic that Communist China would not take kindly to reunification on the South's terms.
@nematic529 I appreciate the insight into the matter.
I think that it's easy for Westerners to think of the Korean War as the central conflict of the ROK's modern history. It certainly was a massive, important, and consequential one. As you said, the wounds were not only from the fighting, but from families and friends being forced apart.
Yet modern South Korea was also greatly shaped by the fight for independence from the Japanese occupation and the fight for the establishment of a true democratic system. From a brutal foreign occupation to an existential war to claiming democracy by the will of the people in a single century. It's a complex and inspiring story.
As an American, I'm glad that we have aided South Korea in the past and hope we do so in the future so long as our assistance is wanted. Still, it should only be our role to be an ally. The matter of North and South should be, if it is at all possible, for the Korean people to decide - not the United States or China. I don't know if that is realistically how things will happen, but it is at least how things ought to be.
I'm not surprised that thoughts about things like unification are changing over time. As I understand it, even the dialect in the two countries is diverging a fair amount. Even if unification is possible, it's a massive undertaking involving two societies that have spent many decades apart now.
I'm not saying I'm Old, but I remember when they didn't have Nukes.
When did they get nukes?
@@christiandauz3742 2010s? It's within a decade. It's not some marker on being old yet at least.
During the very late bush or Obama presidency @@christiandauz3742
@@BeeTriggerBeeit was the late 80’s
@@BeeTriggerBeedidn't North Korea had nuclear weapons since 90s or what ever the year was when they were worki g on Pakistan's nuclear program.
Iraq also had “big numbers” - after the initial barrage of artillery, the US army was bogged down processing surrendering Iraq soldiers…
Good point. Also ROK would see waves of refugees and suffer greatly from the “You broke it you own it” syndrome.
@@richarddietzen3137depends on how many walk on mines going south
Iraq was mostly a normal country. It wasnt isolated and didnt have weird "religious" beliefs.
North Korea is a lot different and ultimately China wants a buffer zone. It is up to China to make North Korea somewhat normal.
Also North Korea has nukes, that changes everything. Imagine them losing, their missiles are getting intercepted and in their desperation, they give ISIS a nuke. ISIS can "easily" drive a nuke to Paris or Moscow.
Saddam's army was a weird mix&match of fanatics trained and motivated beyond anything Russia ever fielded, and conscripts+semi-conscripts just in it for the money. Plus in the Korean War, China threw political troops into the fray who kept fighting until dead. We've an armistice only because China ran out of those indoctrinated brigades and had to bring in 2nd tier troops.
Japanese troops indoctrinated not just with Shinto but also ideas that the US troops were all black cannibals who would eat them, were often woefully outgunned and unsupplied and still inflicted 25-35% of the losses they took during insane banzai-charges.
In any fullscale war involving North Korea we have to be prepared for the same but worse: Kim Jong Whoever no doubt has crack divisions who are deeply indoctrinated and will fight untill they're basically at 100% KIA.
Admittedly, once the ROK is done stacking bodies from those (and make no mistake that will be horrid), there's probably a few unenthousiatic brigades being sent in who will fire 3 shots for symbolism before inquiring about the way to the nearest POW camp.
And Iraq's army had ben "toughened" by ten years of war with Iran.
29:02 it is three generations of medals. They are wearing medals of their fathers and grandfathers.
Isn't that a type of stolen valor?
@DeHerg In America sure, in N. Korea it's probably you're representing your ancestors and their valor.
@@DeHergThat depends on cultural context. So if their peers don’t consider it to be then it isn’t. Could be seen as honouring your family.
@@DeHergI’d imagine it’s more like keeping your father’s medals on the mantle, except you show them off in public.
The other people they deal with presumably understand the idea behind it
Some DPRK medals and orders are specific to historic events, including the pre-1945 Anti-Japanese campaign and 1950-1953 war.
I've found you on your coverage of Russian Turtle Tanks, and now you've given a fair and expansive coverage of the World's Only Hermit Kingdom and it's theoretical and fictional army.
Hearing the DPRK and their strategy of massive Behind-enemy-lines attacks and a Sprint to Victory reminds me of a game I played in the Playstation One: Nuclear Strike. At one point - the story of the game involves North Korea being bombed with a nuclear weapon with intelligence pointing fingers to South Korea - so in retalitation, North Korea has mobilized all it has and broke the 38th parallel to invade the South. The game depicts DPRK Armored divisions comprising of heavy armor cocktails that's a mix of tanks from the 50's and Soviet made weapons from the Cold War, though obsolete as it is, it is shown in game as a literal horde and lines of armor heading south. The invasion force is also supported by DPRK Special Forces - who, though little in number, is able to break the lines of the 38th parallel through tunnels creeping from North to South, utilizing SCUD's and artillery to destroy communication lines, logistics and suplly lines, and even a submarine raid! Well, the mission ends after you, an attack helicopter pilot continually sabotage DPRK efforts to invade for a good 25 minutes - and then NATO/US Heavy bombers just obliterate the North Korean advance, just like that.
And that's how I would see it if North Korea does indeed decide to invade or no longer bluff. They throw as much as they can - only to be near-annihilated with a ghastly number of losses under the orders of an outdated military initiative, having used outdated equipment, and lived to die under an outdated ideology.
Subbed. Looking forward to more. Cheers.
NK is a "Hermit Kingdom" because it has thestrictest sanctions in world history placed upon it by the united States
Bhutan is also a hermit kingdom. There are likely others.
@@zacklewis342 contries not wanting to be dominated by the global US hegemonic system are not “hermit kingdoms”. NK has allies, they are just people you dislike
@@nickyman5557 Those allies are people who would kill you for being an American.
Allies which upheld sanctions against it in the UN?
The closing comment being a perfect summary, and of course, Perun hit the nail on the head with the entire presentation: NK is seriously ridiculous and also ridiculously serious.
Lets be real, invading South Korea would be like invading an alien planet for an North Korean Soldier. Every push through the dmz would stop immediatly when it reaches the first small town and then all the North koreans would go looting like we have seen by the russian in Ukraine but on a far more larger scale. As soon as the push is stopped somewere we would see mass desertions of soldiers hoping to get a better life in this utopian paradies they just got to witness the first time.
Setting up baskets of ultra rich processed foods would incapacitate far more of their infantry than mines.
@thewick-j1837 good one 😅
I wouldn't really expect such a thing to happen.
After all north Korean troops tho poor and unmotivated they have families on the north and communities in the north are far stronger than on the south, that's why ironically north Korean people is often happier than south Korean people despite literally starving, something similar happens in African nations.
So I would 100% expect looting, SA, mass executions and all other evil stuff to take place. But desertion?? Not in a million years.
@@fearlesspotato3429 "they have families on the north"
In other words, hostages. If you desert, then your family gets sent to a concentration camp.
"communities in the north are far stronger than on the south"
What do you base this upon? What about things like the people in every community whose job it is to watch and inform on their neighbors? How can you be close with your community if every person you open up to might inform on you to the government?
"that's why ironically north Korean people is often happier than south Korean people"
How do you get that information? I very much doubt that very many people still living in North Korea would actually admit that they were anything but happy if they are asked, given that complaining in any way could very quickly result in a visit from the Bowibu (state police). I can't think of any way to measure the happiness of the North Korean population either way, to be honest. That being said, the fact that people regularly risk their lives to escape from North Korea, there is a non-trivial portion of the population which is not at all happy there.
For that matter, if the North Korean people are so happy and loyal, why is it that the North Korean government doesn't allow their citizens to freely leave the country? And, by that, I mean truly being able to leave freely, not going abroad to work as a government employee or as part of a government sponsored work program.
@@steelytemplar being happy and loyal and being free, are far different things.
And by far the greatest way to see if a population is happy or not is to see how many kids they have, unhappy populations tend to not have hope I'm the future and not have children as a result, all western nations are a good example of that, while very poor nations often have far stronger communities that give the people involved a more happier existance and as result despite the poverty they have far more children.
North Korea has a far more stable population than the south, a clear indication that their communities are stronger and the people involved in them feel more satisfied despite the poverty.
Community ties are by far the most important aspect of human societies, strong communities make up for loyal people.
And yes from time to time some north Koreans attempt to leave the north and by doing do risk their lives, like everything a stronger community is not something that everyone involved in a nation gets, the majority sure but not everyone.
There will always be people that aren't as happy as the average.
For a variety of reasons, maybe they fail to create community ties, maybe they fail as basic social status within their group, or they are an oppressed group amongst other things.
However that hardly is an indication of the overall state of a system.
When the people on a system are highly oppressed and unhappy they don't have kids.
A modern example is the USSR and modern Britain two totalitarian states that oppress their populations and allow zero reform and as a result both nations collapsed their birth rates.
What I like most about NK is that it's practically a lab rat for economic, political and social concepts and theories of development.
Do you think "The West" isn't a laboratory of exactly the same things? Wake up.
A lab rat that's difficult to observe and measure, unfortunately.
You are the rat
Except everything about it was disproven and shown to be bat-s#it stupid half a century ago.
@@obsidianjane4413 Disproven how, you are still loathe to actually disprove or prove anything
I’ve met weirdos who actually believe N. Korea is a paradise. Of course they have ever been nor watched interviews with those who fled.
Such weirdos are in this comment section. Look out for the folks talking about "Western/Westoid propaganda." That's them.
Nobody thinks it a paradose but its not a hell either. It turns out things arent black and white
@@nickyman5557 Oh look. Here is one now.
@@obsidianjane4413 very substantive response, your worldview certainly holds up to scrutiny. Place me into whatever neat little box you want to avoid critical thinking
@@obsidianjane4413 he’s leeching with bait replies. Helps the algorithm at least which is pretty funny. With the various spelling mistakes and thinking the west is tyranny with substantive support it’s probably hacked or bored on a Sunday and trying to rage bait.
It seems that North Korea's Achilles heel is logistics. As many have known, and most have learned that logistics and support are the greater proportion of any military force. The DRPK doesn't appear to have embraced that principle.
Ironic, considering that logistics is the core of a planned economy.
Probably not. It is much harder to quantify logistics capacity with something as opaque as the DPRK, or more precisely the KPA. Very likely the ENTIRE country's notional transportation system, trucks, trains, horse carts, etc. can/will/planned to be quickly mobilized to support the military. So while it looks like they don't have much, if you are counting trucks and warehouses. This is from assuming that they will have the same kind of dedicated logistical system as Western armies do, and not that the entirety of Norkland is the KPA's.
Agreed that complete mobilization (including slave labor from those you can't trust) can do a lot for months. Eventually they would be starving that lowest group though.
The other big factor is that China doesn't love NK, but it also knows that if NK falls/is invaded, there would be millions of cult members fleeing into China. At least a third of them would be unlikely to stop believing that their leader is a demigod. Not the kind of stuff that China likes inside its borders. NK is a problem for them, but they want to keep their crazy next door neighbors next door, not crashing in their basement.
So China might provide a lot of logistics equipment or whatever was needed to maintain at least a buffer between RoK and China.
@@dreamcoyote China doesn't want the disruption and risk of a Korean war and everything that follows it. They also do not want a unified Korea with the South's modern industrial economy and the North's underutilized resources and population.
@@obsidianjane4413Nah, the entirity of North Korea's transportation system is a stinking mess after decades of economic disasters and corruptions. South Korea actually did some formal inspection during relatively peaceful times of early 2000s, looking for some possible investment opportunities, and the conclusion was exactly that. There are stories of trains traveling across the North Korean countyside for weeks, going on and off, becase they ran out of parts, fuel or electricity and have to wait for them.
of note: North Korea actually sides mostly with the Soviet union after the sino-soviet split, and it only really after the cold war that the PRC became an ally of North Korea.
The reality is more complicated than that. The Kims played both off each other to get the most support. A game of "what have you done for me lately?"
@@obsidianjane4413 The Soviets were still the preferred partner, although the USSR always saw them as a bit of a loose cannon even back then
Well, you have to understand... right up through the end of the Soviet Union, it was one of the world's 2 miltary superpowers. The PLA, OTOH, was... not modernized. In 1986, if you were choosing whether to get weapons from the CCCP or China... and you chose China... the entire room would've suddenly busted out laughing at you.
The US haf 300+ warheads and 100+ long range Strategic Bombers capable of hitting the PRC and USSR.
No ComBloc natuon had any means of actually delivering any of the Soviets handful of nuclear Weapons.
There really was no need to play favorites.
So North Korea decided to try zerg rushing and is now losing because the enemies went for economy. A perfect analogy for our fans of videogames and military procurement strategies here :D.
Imagine thinking video games are at all analagous to real life. Go outside and find some pokemon on your Iphone dork
That is if South Korea figures out how to stop their birth rate collapse. Otherwise in like 40 years North Korea can just walk into empty Seoul.
Only made possible because a global superpower was willing and able to freeze the borders and support the long process of spinning up that economy. Notably the Zerg rush concept did very nearly work at the start.
North Korea really tried to cheese😭
Bro Zerg rushed a treaty game 😂
Honestly with Songun being a thing it kinda surprises me that North Korea hasn't gone full 'Literally everyone is in the military. Everyone. From the moment you are born, you have a rank.'
Some are not trustworthy....
@@oldarchillies163 That's what commissars are for.
And lose a convenient scapegoat?
In order to run a military you still need people to do basic tasks like producing food or keep the state running etc.
North Korea has probably enlisted as many people as a country could possibly afford forgoing all other aspects of society.
They have a larger percentage of their population in the military than Ukraine and Ukraine is actually fighting for it´s existance.
@@hermes7587,
I think OP means folding all of those basic tasks into a military command structure, even if superficially
Omg this sunday is going to be great, Perun Powerpoint while eating a hearty breakfast and I have date later today at a festival. I am so excited :)
Have a good day and lots of fun! :D
Nice. Have a good one friend.
The Perun video is definitely going to be the highlight, fwiw.
Have a great day!
Good luck man , enjoy your date and remember just be you , because only you can be a cool you
20:00 Those are not the most problematic funding sources.
Slave sales are.
Of course the entire population are effectively treated as slaves to Kim, but there are literal price-per-head sales into russian logging camp and chinese brothels.
En masse.
Proof?
@@nickyman5557 This is very widely known fact. Google north korean migrant workers.
I also want some evidence. It's not completely unbelievable but I do find it hard to believe.
@@nickyman5557look up vice north Korea slave its a really good series
@@12pentaborane years ago there was a vice documentary about north korean logging camps in russia, dont know if you can still find it here though ruclips.net/video/awQDLoOnkdI/видео.html
Michael Malice did a wonderful English edition of Kim Jong Un's biography titled "Dear Reader" if anyone is interested in it. It is 100% DPRK propaganda approved and all the more hilarious for this fact. I found it on Audible and it was a laugh riot.
You recommend that nonsense of a book that is brain rot.
@agramarten I'm sure it's an entertaining read 😂
@@agramarten It has the same value, in terms of reading material, as a British dry-humor comedy novel.
finally I can feed my powerpoint addiction again
Oh wow, this is the video I didn't know I wanted. North Korea has always been an oddball to me: a basket-case economy that still manages to support a very dangerous military. Can't wait to watch the video. Thanks Perun!
I'm not sure how dangerous the DPRK is to countries other than Japan, ROK,and China. Russia's performance in Ukraine has been staggeringly inept and they were comparatively flush with new weapons, oil, and cash before hand!
International food charities can do a lot
A theoretically dangerous military. Whether or not an army that hasn't fought a large scale war since the 1950s and has no economic base to support it in the field is actually dangerous or not is up for debate.
@@josephahner3031 If the nukes work it is dangerous just because it has them.
Ever studied the United States?
If there is one thing to be learned from what’s happening in Ukraine is that it’s hard to know how a military will perform until it actually gets to perform.
No plan survives the first contact with enemy. Although in this case it's questionable whether it would survive long enough to even contact said enemy.
21:35 - at the beginning of this year, they actually pivoted on this strategic goal, with Kim renouncing the North's goal of reunification with the South, tearing down a reunification monument, and stripped mention of reunification from the constitution
I think that was just peaceful reunification that was renounced.
Of course now you will pivot to saying this is bad actually because everthing the DPRK does automatically becomes bad
@@12pentaborane Actually North Korea stopped laying claim in South Korea. From now they only claim whatever they already control
Yes I have heard of this. The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea has been dissolved.
It's unheard-of to my knowledge for DPRK leadership to openly say their past approach was a mistake. The approach has on past occasions been quietly redirected, but always without any admission of error.
Listening to the history of North Korea feels like watching a playthrough of Frostpunk, "The City Must Survive"
You are single handedly improving my attention span
Great video as always, been watching since 2022, haven't missed a video. Thanks for all your efforts and expertise, you should be proud of yourself for creating this wonderful reosurce
I love how I start making the Sunday dinner and Perun is always here to help me endure this process
the title allone excites me already, sunday fun day with perun
Just as I am starting to watch Time Ghost’s week by week coverage of The Korean War.
We promise to not spoil who wins.
You mean when NK tried to do exactly what the US did in the civil war but was told by the US it was wrong this time because muh communism
@@RG001100No-one won.
It’s a frozen (occasionally literally) conflict.
hell yea a Perun video. Let me just get the popcorn.
Perun run club, here and accounted for!
‘You can do many things with a bayonet, but you cannot eat it’
- Napoleon’s Foreign Minister when he was hungry
I am more than a little concerned about the nuclear tech that Russia sharing with North Korea.
Don't worry comrade. RBMK reactors can't explode.
I'm not particularly concerned frankly.
Why
Being concerned seems sensible. I wouldn't be worried about it, really. Even with instructions from Russia, I don't think NK could put together a very reliable system. I also suspect that their nuclear arsenal has a shorter shelf life than those in the US and Russia. They are producing fissile material, but the longer they don't use it, the more they have to create to replace it.
I don’t think Russia is sharing nuclear material with them, neither is China. They don’t even like having NK there but it’s a useful bulwark against the west, they will call upon North Korean aid if either of them ever got attacked, but they wouldn’t actually lift a finger to help North Korea if they started an aggressive action
Funnily enough, North Korea has 3-generation hereditary system, which includes military decorations, which is why those officer's chests are full of medals.
"3-generation hereditary system"
I wonder what the implications are for Kim Jongun's successor. Of will the system be extended by one generation then.
I LOVE research on NK. One of the most interesting ongoing social experiments we somehow call a "country" - I wish and hope freedom and peace for all those trapped within it's caged borders.
Recently added a new tv to my office.
The ability to watch the PowerPoint on a proper screen is oddly comforting.
Perun Point.
Hmm, i feel North Korea is properly pretty good at roleplaying near feudal planet as you might find in Warhammer 40k
My thoughts exactly
Imagine comparing real world countries to your cringey fantasy larp, what a fucking joke
Not quite.
40k planets actually have competent battle proven militares capable of dealing with their adversaries.
So more like Russia.
@@fearlesspotato3429 you would describe the Russian military as competent?
@@strategystuff5080 well Russia is actually fighting a war, and slowly winning it.
So yes.
I mean Germany advanced a lot less in WW1 in France than Russia has.
But no one denies Germany was in fact competent.
Being competent doesn't mean you erase a country from the face of the earth in 2 days.
What america did in Iraq was a completely different context.
If Iraq hadn't been already destroyed after 8 years of war with Iran the American Invasion would have turned out to be a lot longer.
Your ability to inform is never less than amazing. Thank you for your dedication and work. Always looking forward to you analysis and explanations. Thank you for keeping laymen like me in the know. Glad you’re better and wish you all the best health.
If you have Netflix and are interested in watching actual footage of a family escaping from North Korea then I must suggest Beyond Utopia. It is a stunning documentary, indeed one of the most captivating productions I have ever seen. I find it to be mind boggling that if defectors are detained in the countries surrounding North Korea they are deported back to surely be tortured, sent to a gulag, and/or killed. I didn't realize North Korea has such good relations with the surrounding countries that must be navigated as a sort of underground railroad to the South. Are those countries afraid of kicking the hornets nest? No one ought to be trapped in a place like North Korea, although it seems that most of the population are totally brainwashed into believing their country is the very best on Earth.
Anyhow, I enjoyed this excellent video. I am so glad I found Perun and look forward to binge watching the other videos as well.
We shouldn’t underestimate NKs tunnel network. Look how hard Israel is struggling to find Hamas tunnels in Gaza which is flat and much smaller. NK is very mountainous and have basically been building massive hive of tunnels for decades. The ISR would be a nightmare.
Those won't be a problem once we're done genetically engineering the Riftworm from GoW2
Which is a concern when they're defending DPRK territory. But to take SK territory they have to leave bunkers
@@GraemeHein
NK has built huge tunnels INTO SK. Large enough for armoured formations to pass through
They also tunnels to infiltrate spy’s & saboteurs
A tunnel has been found every once in awhile
Based
@GraemeHein Honestly, given the South's demographics problems, the North has a (small but) realistic chance of outlasting the South
omg i waited 2 years for this one .. thx perun .. legend
23:02 Kim looks like the Korean Göring.
Where did all the Nazis end up? Ill give you a hint, it wasnt NK
Terrific exposition of North Korean capabilities, limitations and potential. NIK is the 2 year old calling attention to itself with temper tantrums but they cannot be ignored. You put them in perspective. We can't ignore them but we shouldn't be obsessed by them either. They are a wild card. Thanks for the work that went into this.
BTW, you sound like your old self. Good to hear.
Any respectable warship has a vegetable garden
Unless you have leeks.
Sorry, I'll get my coat.
@@nigelgarrett7970 That deserves a "hey-o!" as well as a like.
Beats having to steal from farmers, like the army did during the last big famine.
Thank you for all your hard work!!!
It really hard you parrot talking points from the George Bush school of geopolitics
Analysing the defence economics of North Korea is like doing an analysis of Mongolia's Navy
@@priyan605 that’s an insult to Mongolia lol
Weirdly enough, if you consider the wide history of it, they are strangely similar stories.
wow the country with the worlds largest sanctions have a bad eocnomy, color me shocked
Actually the mongols came very close toward invading Japan. Twice. Japan was eventually saved by typhoons destroying the invading fleets.
Swede here: we still ask for payment each year, it has become something of a tradition lol
Given the poor quality of north Korean ammunition (according to russian cannon fodder), i´m curious, if the 90 year old tanks are even able to leave their current positions without a crane and half of the chassis not moving when lifted.
Great video, as always, very well presented. I had a blast watching it. I just wanted to add a bit, coming from a native Korean with experience as a liaison officer between ROK and USFK forces for operational sustainment(intentionally being vague as I don't want to dox myself haha), and as someone who's got to work with the ROK Ambassador-at-Large for NK human rights.
The part on NK capabilities for conventional bombardment against the Seoul Capital Area (SCA) is indeed a headache. That is why ROK has a heavy focus on artillery, I must say. I haven't yet seen your ROK defense strategy video, so you may have covered it, but the focus on counterbattery fire is extreme. I can't divulge on the COCOM command structure in times of war nor on concrete numbers, but the simulations, exercises, and briefings I've translated for tell quite the story. Imagine what all the K9 Thunder inventory of ROK and all its detection capability hyperfocused for one task can do, and I think it would be about on par with expectations. Yes, damage will be done against a region home to half of our population, but the focus is to cut short that damage within a very short time frame. And I am confident it can be done.
Second, I think it's worth asking with DPRK defense spending this key question: "where does it get all the money from?"
You did mention many arms of the illicit means by which DPRK gathers its funds, such as hacking. However, the funds gathered by hacking cannot alone fund the DPRK war machine. This is where the Ambassador drew connections to security issues and human rights, which is not a connection I was really prepared to make nor I have thought of. The idea is, DPRK must and is confirmed to have withheld critical resources to a subset of its own population to scrounge up whatever resources it can to fund missile tests and its nuclear program. The confirmation I refer to are studies conducted by the Ministry of Reunification which, I'm aware, many Western watchers do not consider a wholly impartial party to this issue. However, it is worth mentioning that the ministry maintains some of the most comprehensive DPRK database and long running programs in peer reviewed academia. Therefore, the daily meager existence of a portion of DPRK citizens--namely the lower, enemy class as per its songbun system, are primary targets for deprivation of resources. What ever means of state revenue DPRK has is further 'enlarged' by withholding spending on basic necessities to its people, to a degree where starvation had been rampant up until its weapons sales to Russia. Even then, resources were not distrubuted regularly to those in subsistence living.
I thought this point where state sanctioned human rights violations and defense economics crossover was very interesting and a new perspective which I really hadn't considered.
Correcting an incorrect statement: While North Korea was considered more prosperous than South Korea in the 1950s and 1960s, South Korea consistently had a population size approximately twice as large as North Korea's.
If you are referring to 15:35 "South Korea's population now is about twice that of the north and their" I don't believe he was stating there had been significant population change as a result of economic divergence.
Depends what weight you put on the importance of "now".
I can see how you could interpret that to mean there had been a change but he does not go on to hold that as particularly significant.
He was leading into a comparison of military capacity and the effect an economic distortion a long term priority of a large proportion towards military could shift an economy roughly twice that of the South at end of WW2 with half the population to one "now" with GDP approximately 1/35th that of the South, or 1/10th in PPP GDP.
Any statistics from a country under occupation and then at war are probably not particularly reliable anyway.
He asserts that there is a "sweet spot" where too much spending is deleterious to the economy and counterproductive to military effectiveness.
In the later scenario he presents a country spending 4% (edit) compared to 2% will likely have more capacity in the long run.
The illustration is that to then spend 34% does not make them 8 or 15 times as capable decades later.
He doesn't say this is about Koreas , indeed he says the comparison is otherwise identical 16:11. I can see how you could link that with the previous statement of double population "now" to mean they started off equal but he did not state that.
@@johncarlaw8633 Perun appears to have removed the incorrect statement, which came earlier while comparing the economic state of the two sides prior to the Korean War around 7-8 min mark. Someone else also pointed out the same mistake with the time marked after me. To add context, during the Japanese occupation, heavy industries were built mostly in the northern half of Korean peninsula, accounting for the statement about North being wealthier and more powerful. However, population was always larger in the south side, more suited for agriculture emphasized by the Chosun dynasty.
Perun, I never watched your gaming channel but I did stumble on "All Bling No Basics" the second day it was released. So I appreciate the video game references, RE: AOE and Starcraft that continue to this day.
Two Sundays in a row.
All is right with my world.
Strange, i never thought Perun would cover the Imperial Guard.
During WW2 Germany and Japan were working on nuke bombs. Both were too late, but the Japanese facility was where North Korea today has its nuclear facilities. Funny that?
Thank you 💛 Perun, I enjoyed this episode. I remember at one point seeing the difference in the lights being dark in North Korea, when others were lit up at night. Such a stark contrast. Ty again Perun! See you next week.
Thank you Perun
Every time you say Hwasong I think you're saying Croissant. It's an added layer of amusement for me.
My favorite Powerpoint presenter
This was a really solid one, love these single country deep dives
We actually don't want anything to physically happen to Washington DC. There are nice museums and some pretty cool architecture there.
this was both wildly funny and terrifying at the same time. Thank you Perun for another fantastic vid sir
28:00 You missed the single most important goal of north korea. The goal of North Korea's strategy is to deter the West from interfering or worse. It's designed to make any victory a Pyrrhic one.
"And the Soviets who did control a veto were busy boycotting the UNSC.'
And then the Covenant invaded-
Cannot wait to watch this after work today, already know it’s fantastic as always
Excellent.
Time 2 sit back & learn some stuff. 👍
Always informative, filled with humour and a joy to listen.
About those 1000 Volvo 144 cars in 1974 Volvo was a bit suspicous.
Sweden state put up some export guarantee and have since then sent reminders to pay twice a year. 🚗🚙
Perun Queenslander confirmed!!!
Perun at long last endorses the Glorious Only Korea! Emutopia ain’t got shit on the Divine Dynasty of Pektu Mountain! May we all be dominated by Great Leader’s Vindictive Fist!
Me - enjoying hot cup of coffee.
Perun - "... With a vegetable garden on deck..."
Me - coffee exits via nose followed by a ten minute coughing fit.
Cheers 🇬🇧
I have to say that it's nice to have a video on North Korea.
Much awaited, much appreciated looking forward to excellent insights as always from you
If I recall correctly, South Korea has an active artillery park of over 12,000 pieces, plus a stupidly huge reserve. That means that the DPRK would have to knock out South Korean artillery at a rate of 1.5 to one to achieve fire superiority.
.
.
.
Call me skeptical.
I knew this was going to be weird and bizarre, but my expectations were exceeded. Well done Perun!
Guys I'm starting to think whenever North Korea does one of those Missile Launches as a show of power they're actually genuinely aiming at Japan or South Korea, the targeting systems are simply so bad they never hit their mark
Over 500,000 subs, samo guraj brate 😄
Notification squad reporting for duty!
How dare you accuse Dear Leader of wasting missiles! He was hunting Godzilla!
Ah yes, the 4x player that blows their whole budget on the military, then cries, urinates, and defecates on themselves in their efforts to beg for aid.
Straight out of Sseth's playbook.
Sseth being metnioned under a Perun video is unexpected tho not unwelcome thing.
really appreciate ur work. thanks for another great video perun
Hey, I suggested this video a couple months ago. I recently came across my comment just the other day. Thanks Perun!
Researching & then making sense of N.K. is serious work. 🙂👍
Look at the history of Canadians in Korea. A Canadian Regiment held off a partial Chinese ARMY GROUP for 72 hours. This was also done with fire on their positions of sufficient quantity that a meter of the hilltop surface was removed.
Not a fan of the Chinese. But im sure its the Canadians holding against a Chinese corp sized group. While its not 1:100, its still 1:20 and still commendable
@@3dcomrade It was the 2nd Battalion, PPCLI at the battle of Kap Yong. 3 Companies IIRC and while estimates vary, the odds were more like 50:1 in favour of the Chinese. Thank God for the Kiwi 25 pounder Batteries and one heavy Battery of US Artillery in the background. The advantage the CDNs had was that their senior officers had learned the lesson of holding the high ground the hard way, fighting the Germans in Italy ten years earlier.
@@rockbutcher Is this history in Melady's book? It's on my shelves in my to-read list.
@@patnolen8072 I'm not familiar with the book, but see if Kap Yong is in the index.
Honestly... this presentation style is amazing... (I find myself copying the style for my own presentations, it's a good balance of keeping interest, information and wittyness.
It ain’t flashy, but I think it works because the information is very well researched and obviously read out by an expert in the field.
They've been dependent on foreign aid since the 1950s, but found the money for nuclear weapons. I don't care who plays what shell games, they're spending the foreign aid money on nuclear weapons.
Thank you for covering this country Perun, I have encountered some of its defenders in real life and they are amazingly frustrating.
How? Do you think they're paying their own people in USD? The DPRK Won can be worth anything internally, essentially everyone works for free if you don't have to worry about global trade.
I believe Perun has actually discussed this issue in a previous video (probably discussing aid to Ukraine?) but non-military aid can, intentionally or not, be a proxy for military aid as it frees up the receiving nation's resources to be assigned to other tasks.
Reducing the amount of financial and manpower resources the North Korean government needs to use to keep its population from starving unfortunately means it has greater ability to pursue other goals - including military ones. There's no need for direct corruption / mishandling of aid.
@@grantmonsma3569 This guy gets it. What you're describing is what I referred to as shell games. The net result of the food aid is not that the North Korean people get more food. Rather, the net result of the food aid is that the Kim Dynasty can spend more on nuclear weapons because they have less need to feed their people.
Great to see these videos continuing!
Oh boy, he's talking about that annoying kid on the block 😂
Somehow... that kid got a grenade.
To most of the world the United States and its puppets are those kids
Great video, as always! Thank you for your comitment
When you said "...North Korea has attempted various military and security efforts..." I heard "...North Korea has attempted various military INsecurity efforts" and it still fits. I would laugh if it weren't the North Korean people paying the price of the joke. Always a sad topic.
It funny how Westoids twist everthing they hear about enemy countries to fit their narratives