What do you think?
Rate this book
The North Korean People's Army: Origins and Current Tactics
For more than fifty years, the combined armed forces of the United States and the Republic of Korea have faced down the North Korean People's Army (NKPA) along the world's most militarized stretch of land known as the demilitarized zone. Despite the prolonged standoff, much remains unknown about the world's third largest army. In this authoritative study, James M. Minnich blends academic knowledge with nearly twenty-five years of military experience to explain the NKPA's origins, military ideology, strategy, combat formations, and tactics to ensure a full understanding of this reclusive belligerent.
At the outset, Minnich examines the first crucial years of the North Korean state and its army. Solidly grounded in primary sources and buttressed by the judicious use of secondary sources, his work traces the formative elements of the Korean partisans, Soviet Army, and Chinese communists to show how each group contributed to the NKPA's development and its ability to mount the first shooting campaign of the Cold War. This timely book then presents a vitally relevant examination of the NKPA's current military tactics, including its seven forms of offensive maneuver, two forms of defense, and tactical artillery groupings. Required reading for military planners and personnel who must remain prepared to rapidly deploy to Korea, this concise profile will also appeal to students of Korean history and those seeking a deeper understanding of the NKPA.
At the outset, Minnich examines the first crucial years of the North Korean state and its army. Solidly grounded in primary sources and buttressed by the judicious use of secondary sources, his work traces the formative elements of the Korean partisans, Soviet Army, and Chinese communists to show how each group contributed to the NKPA's development and its ability to mount the first shooting campaign of the Cold War. This timely book then presents a vitally relevant examination of the NKPA's current military tactics, including its seven forms of offensive maneuver, two forms of defense, and tactical artillery groupings. Required reading for military planners and personnel who must remain prepared to rapidly deploy to Korea, this concise profile will also appeal to students of Korean history and those seeking a deeper understanding of the NKPA.
Hardcover
First published October 1, 2005
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
September 2, 2023
Must-Read Resource for Serious National Security and Military Professionals and Leaders
"The North Korean People's Army: Origins and Current Tactics" was published in 2005 but remains the most valuable resource of its kind regarding the military history, strategy, tactical doctrines and force structure of the army of the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK) better known as North Korea. Although the DPRK has vastly improved it's ballistic missile arsenal in the last ten years, its army ground component has changed little. Much of the DPRK's tanks, cannon artillery, small-unit weapons, and battle tactics are rooted in Soviet style doctrine circa 1975 with a heavy emphasis on artillery barrages to disrupt enemy defenses, except that the DPRK has a much, much stronger emphasis on small unit infiltration, special operations forces, and snipers at the tactical and operational level. This emphasis would pose great problems for a US or allied force that is complacent about rear area security and used to being in control of the entire battlespace. DPRK may be weak in terms of maneuver and operational understanding but this emphasis on operations targeting the rear will catch US forces unprepared in a war with the DPRK. One thing this book does not go into too much detail on that is needful is the possible use of CBRNE weapons for area denial. Again, targeting rear area logistics at the strategic level (US airbases and ROK ports, primarily).
This book also has an interesting history of the DPRK Army and it's development during the period leading up to the Korean War. This includes the influence of Communist China and the Soviet Union.
The author James M. Minnich is a lifetime Korea expert having served as a Korean Foreign Area Officer and studied at the ROK Army College and Sogang University in Seoul. In this book, he has written the definitive book on the DPRK Army, one that every US Army Intelligence Officer should have on their bookshelf.
Warfighting Commanders take note. As we are living in a time when US forces continually rotate between the Continental US and either Korea or Poland in response to the DPRK and Russian regional threats, every deploying unit going to Korea should have this in their reference library.
I would also suggest that training centers such as the Army NTC at Fort Irwin and JRTC at Fort Polk, and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at 29 Palms should all incorporate the intelligence threat information in this book into their pre-deployment training programs for units going to Korea.
This is HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended for serious students in the art of war.
"The North Korean People's Army: Origins and Current Tactics" was published in 2005 but remains the most valuable resource of its kind regarding the military history, strategy, tactical doctrines and force structure of the army of the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK) better known as North Korea. Although the DPRK has vastly improved it's ballistic missile arsenal in the last ten years, its army ground component has changed little. Much of the DPRK's tanks, cannon artillery, small-unit weapons, and battle tactics are rooted in Soviet style doctrine circa 1975 with a heavy emphasis on artillery barrages to disrupt enemy defenses, except that the DPRK has a much, much stronger emphasis on small unit infiltration, special operations forces, and snipers at the tactical and operational level. This emphasis would pose great problems for a US or allied force that is complacent about rear area security and used to being in control of the entire battlespace. DPRK may be weak in terms of maneuver and operational understanding but this emphasis on operations targeting the rear will catch US forces unprepared in a war with the DPRK. One thing this book does not go into too much detail on that is needful is the possible use of CBRNE weapons for area denial. Again, targeting rear area logistics at the strategic level (US airbases and ROK ports, primarily).
This book also has an interesting history of the DPRK Army and it's development during the period leading up to the Korean War. This includes the influence of Communist China and the Soviet Union.
The author James M. Minnich is a lifetime Korea expert having served as a Korean Foreign Area Officer and studied at the ROK Army College and Sogang University in Seoul. In this book, he has written the definitive book on the DPRK Army, one that every US Army Intelligence Officer should have on their bookshelf.
Warfighting Commanders take note. As we are living in a time when US forces continually rotate between the Continental US and either Korea or Poland in response to the DPRK and Russian regional threats, every deploying unit going to Korea should have this in their reference library.
I would also suggest that training centers such as the Army NTC at Fort Irwin and JRTC at Fort Polk, and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at 29 Palms should all incorporate the intelligence threat information in this book into their pre-deployment training programs for units going to Korea.
This is HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended for serious students in the art of war.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review