You’ve seen the parades. Thousands of soldiers goose-stepping in perfect unison, followed by massive green trucks carrying missiles that look like they could reach the moon. It’s a spectacle. But if you actually strip away the polished paint and the propaganda music, the military equipment of North Korea is a strange, jarring mix of 1950s Soviet relics and surprisingly high-tech homegrown drones. It’s not just one big army; it’s a museum and a laboratory smashed together.
Most people think Kim Jong Un’s arsenal is just junk. That’s a mistake. While a lot of their tanks belong in a history book, their newer stuff—especially the tactical nukes and the solid-fuel missiles—is genuinely scary. They aren't just copying Russia anymore. They’re innovating because they have to.
The Tank Problem: Why the Chonma-ho Still Matters
Let's talk about the armor. If you look at a North Korean tank, you’re basically looking at a heavily modified Soviet T-62. They call them the Chonma-ho or the Pokpung-ho. Honestly, in a head-to-head fight with a modern American M1A2 Abrams, these things would be target practice. They lack the thermal optics and the composite armor needed to survive a modern battlefield.
But here is the thing: North Korea has thousands of them.
Quantity has a quality all its own. In the mountainous terrain of the Korean Peninsula, you don't always need a laser-guided masterpiece. You need something that can sit in a hole and fire a shell. The North Koreans have spent decades digging "Hardened Artillery Sites" (HAGs). They tuck these old tanks and artillery pieces into the sides of mountains. You can’t see them from the air. You can't hit them easily with drones. They just pop out, fire, and hide. It’s a low-tech solution to a high-tech problem.
Recently, they showed off a new "M2020" tank. It looks suspiciously like a Russian T-14 Armata or an American Abrams. Analysts like Joseph Dempsey from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) have noted that while it looks modern, we don't actually know if the insides work. Is the fire control system real? Does it have active protection systems? Or is it just a fiberglass shell over an old chassis? Probably somewhere in the middle. They are trying to move toward a more modern design, even if the progress is slow.
The Missile Gap is Closing Fast
This is where the military equipment of North Korea gets serious. Forget the old Scud missiles from the 80s. The KPA (Korean People's Army) has moved on to solid-fuel technology.
Why does solid fuel matter? Because liquid-fueled missiles are a nightmare to use. You have to fuel them up right before you launch, which takes hours. During those hours, a US satellite can see you and blow you up. Solid fuel is like a giant bottle rocket. You keep it in a cave, you drive it out, and you fire it in minutes. The Hwasong-18 is the big player here. It’s an ICBM that can theoretically hit the United States, and because it's mobile and solid-fueled, it’s incredibly hard to track.
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- Hwasong-15: The liquid-fueled "monster" missile.
- Hwasong-18: The new solid-fuel game changer.
- KN-23: Their version of the Russian Iskander. It flies on a "quasi-ballistic" path, meaning it can maneuver mid-flight to dodge defenses.
The KN-23 is particularly annoying for missile defense systems like PATRIOT or THAAD. It doesn't just fly in a predictable arc. It skims the atmosphere and zig-zags. This isn't "backward" technology. This is sophisticated aerospace engineering. They likely got some help from Russian designs, but the manufacturing is happening inside North Korea.
Small Arms and the Special Forces Obsession
North Korean soldiers aren't all carrying the same gear. The elite units—the ones Kim Jong Un likes to visit—carry the Type 88-2. It's basically an AK-74 but with a weird, top-folding stock and a "helical" magazine. These magazines look like big tubes and can hold maybe 100 rounds.
Are they reliable? Probably not. They are heavy and prone to jamming. But they look intimidating.
The average infantryman is still rocking a Type 58 or Type 68 (local AK-47 clones). These guns are rugged. They work. North Korea produces all its own small arms, including the 7.62mm and 5.45mm ammunition. They aren't reliant on anyone for the basics.
One thing people overlook is their Night Vision Goggles (NVGs). For a long time, the KPA was blind in the dark. Not anymore. Recent photos show special operations forces equipped with dual-tube NVGs. They might be cheap Chinese exports, but they give North Korean commandos a capability they simply didn't have ten years ago. If you're a South Korean conscript on the DMZ, that's a terrifying thought.
The Navy: A Collection of Metal Coffins?
If you want to see the weakest link in the military equipment of North Korea, look at the surface fleet. Their frigates are ancient. Their patrol boats are basically targets.
But then there are the submarines.
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North Korea operates one of the largest submarine fleets in the world. Most of them are tiny Romeo-class or Sang-O class subs. They are loud. They are old. They are cramped. But they are perfect for sticking a dozen commandos on the South Korean coast or laying mines in a harbor.
The real threat is the Hero Kim Kun Ok. It’s a "tactical nuclear attack submarine." It’s basically an old Romeo-class sub that they chopped open and stuffed with missile tubes. It looks ridiculous—top-heavy and clunky. Most naval experts think it would be easily tracked by a modern US Navy destroyer. However, it only has to be lucky once. If it manages to submerge and fire a nuclear-tipped cruise missile from a few miles offshore, the game changes.
Drones: The New Frontier
In late 2022, five North Korean drones crossed the border into South Korea. One even flew near the "no-fly zone" around the South Korean president's office. The South Korean military scrambled jets and helicopters but failed to shoot them down.
These weren't sophisticated Reapers or Predators. They were small, almost toy-like UAVs.
Since then, North Korea has upped its game. They recently unveiled two new large drones that look almost identical to the US Global Hawk and Reaper. We call them the "Morning Star-4" and "Morning Star-9." It’s blatant copying. While they probably don't have the satellite links to fly these around the world, they can certainly fly them over the DMZ to gather intelligence or drop munitions.
The Art of Camouflage and Deception
One thing the North Koreans excel at is making stuff look like what it isn't. They have mastered the art of "maskirovka."
They use inflatable tanks. They build fake runways. They have thousands of underground facilities (UGFs) where they hide their real military equipment. You might think you're looking at a North Korean artillery battery from a satellite, but you’re actually looking at a bunch of painted logs and some clever netting.
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This makes assessing their actual strength nearly impossible. Even the CIA and South Korea's NIS (National Intelligence Service) argue over the numbers. Does North Korea have 4,000 tanks or 6,000? Are their new "super-large" multiple rocket launchers (the 600mm KN-25) actually nuclear-capable, or is that just talk?
The KN-25 is a beast, by the way. It’s a rocket launcher that blurs the line between artillery and ballistic missiles. It can fire six massive rockets in rapid succession, each capable of hitting targets across South Korea. It’s designed to saturate air defenses. You can’t shoot down all of them.
Practical Insights: How to Evaluate the Threat
When looking at the military equipment of North Korea, you have to separate the parade fluff from the operational reality. Here is how to think about it:
- Ignore the paint: A shiny new paint job on a parade vehicle doesn't mean the engine works. Look for footage of actual live-fire drills.
- Watch the fuel: The shift from liquid to solid fuel is the most important technological jump they’ve made in 30 years. It makes their missiles "survivable."
- Geography is king: North Korea's equipment is designed for the mountains and the sea. They don't need a global expeditionary force; they just need to turn Seoul into a "sea of fire."
- Asymmetric focus: They know they can't win a fair fight. That’s why they invest in nukes, drones, cyber warfare, and midget submarines.
The reality of North Korean military hardware is a story of "good enough." It’s not the best in the world, but for a country under total sanctions, it’s a remarkable feat of engineering and smuggling. They have managed to maintain a credible threat using a mix of 1950s steel and 2020s software.
To get a clearer picture of this evolution, it's worth following the work of the 38 North project or the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. They do the hard work of counting pixels on satellite photos to see if a missile hatch is real or just painted on. In the world of North Korean arms, things are rarely exactly what they seem, but they are almost always more dangerous than we want to admit.
The next time you see a parade in Pyongyang, don't just laugh at the old trucks. Look at the tires. Look at the launch canisters. The military equipment of North Korea is evolving, and it’s doing so with a very specific, very deadly purpose in mind. Stay informed by tracking the biennial reports from the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, which provide the most granular (though biased) data on Northern deployments. Understanding the hardware is the first step in understanding the strategy.