How North Korea Became a Military Powerhouse: Blame the Soviet Union

Mark Episkopos

Security,

There is little historical question that North Korea’s defense industry was not only founded and sustained by direct Soviet military-technological transfers over a period of half a century, but that Soviet and Soviet-licensed hardware continues to be a pillar of North Korea’s current military equipment roster.

As North Korea continues on a missile test spree described by Pyongyang as a “solemn warning” to South Korea, the specter of open military conflict on the Korean peninsula continues to loom large despite Washington’s ongoing efforts to promote North-South reconciliation.

But how did North Korea become a major regional power, both in terms of its nuclear arsenal and by conventional military metrics?

Prior reporting has focused on the peculiarities of the North Korean war economy; in particular, the Songun or “military first” policy that holds up the army as the central organizing pillar of North Korean society. Much of the answer, however, lies in external aid; for one, North Korea considerable military strength would be utterly unsustainable were it not for a steady stream of Chinese economic subsidies. But there is an even more direct aspect of external aid to North Korea that goes largely unnoticed in contemporary defense commentary: North Korea’s defense industry was built on, and is today predominantly composed of, Soviet arms and equipment.