TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Study of Soviet Influence on the Formation of the North Korean Army
AU  - Tertitskiy, Fyodor 
JO  - Academia Koreana
PY  - 2017
DA  - 2017/1/1
DO  - 10.18399/acta.2017.20.1.009
KW  - Korean People’s Army
KW  - North Korean army
KW  - Red Army
KW  - Soviet-North Korean relations
AB  - This article examines the influence of Soviet Army experience and tradition on the formation of the army of North Korea in the late 1940s–1950s. As North Korea itself was born out of the Soviet occupation zone, the USSR exercised a strong influence and the Korean People’s Army was largely shaped in the Soviet image.

The author analyses North Korean military regulations, unit structure, ranks, the political officer system and Party organisations in the army. The article’s findings are that the KPA was moulded according to the Soviet model, borrowing elements of its structure from different eras of Soviet history, including those that predated the creation of the North Korean state. Although some elements of its Soviet origin disappeared over time, it would not be an exaggeration to say the North Korean army is still a Soviet-type one.