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Military power of North Korea & Russia

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North Korea vs Russia

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North Korea Russia

North Korea is a country located in Eastern Asia with an area of 120,540 km2 (land boundries: 1,607 km and costline 2,495 km). The capital of North Korea is Pyongyang. The number of inhabitants is 25,549,604.

The KPA is equipped with older weapon systems originally acquired from the former Soviet Union, Russia, and China, as well as some domestically-produced equipment. The North Korea produces a diverse array of military hardware like light armored vehicles, tanks, naval vessels and submarines, and advanced weapons systems, such as ballistic missiles. North Korea developing also nuclear weapons.

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Russia is a country located in North Asia bordering the Arctic Ocean with an area of 17,098,242 km2 (land boundries: 22,407 km and costline 37,653 km). The capital of Russia is Moscow. The number of inhabitants is 146,171,015.

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine with an estimated 150 k troops. Russia is the leading member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The Russian Federation's military is equipped with domestically-produced weapons systems. Russia is the world's second largest exporter of military hardware and has the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.

More about Russia military

If you want to check the comparison in terms of economic ratios check out CompareEconomy.com

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 2 billion $ 86.4 billion $
Percent of GDP: 5% 4.1%

Military budget

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Highest value in the world: 916 billion $ (USA)
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Manpower

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Active personnel: 1,320,000 1,000,000
Reserve personnel: 600,000 2,000,000
Available for military: 6,515,279 34,765,736

Active

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Highest value in the world: 2,035,000 (China)
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Land Forces

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Tanks: 6,000 12,267
Armoured fighting vehicles: 4,000 24,172
Total artillery: 13,000 18,266
Self-propelled artillery: 4,500 6,443
Rocket artillery: 4,000 4,331

Tanks

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Highest value in the world: 12,267 (Russia)
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Air Forces

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Total aircraft: 960 4,418
Fighter aircraft: 349 340
Multirole aircraft: 35 382
Attack aircraft: 188 689
Helicopters: 202 1,665
UCAV (combat drone): 0 100

Total aircraft

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Highest value in the world: 13,175 (USA)
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Navy

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Total naval: 967 653
Aircraftcarriers: 0 1
Destroyers: 0 14
Frigates: 2 11
Corvettes: 8 80
Submarines: 72 66

Total naval

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Highest value in the world: 967 (North Korea)
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Nuclear weapons

North Korea

Although at the beginning North Korea joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, they withdrew from it on January 2003. It was a consequence of the United States accusation. The USA government claimed that North Korea was unofficially funding a program of uranium enrichment. Because of that, they cancelled the 1994 Agreed Framework treaty and cut off the energy assistance. Two years after withdrawing, the officials from North Korea claimed that they own operational nuclear arsenal. In spite of North Koreans assurances, the United States did not believe that North Korea really posses such weapons. As a result, the government of North Korea decided to conduct tests.

There were three tests that North Korea initially conducted. The first one, with the yield of less than a kiloton, took place in 2006. However, to show that this was in fact a nuclear detonation, North Koreans conducted second and third tests, respectable in 2009 and 2013. The maximum power of the blast of the aforementioned tests can be estimated to be up to 40 kilotons. However, a lot of sources claim that yield did not surpass 10-15 kilotons. Noteworthy is also the fact that in 2016, North Korea announced that they have conducted their first hydrogen-bomb test.

Russia

The second most important state when it comes to researching, developing, and then storing nuclear weapon. Although the Russians managed to catch up with Americans later on, it was only in 1949 that the first nuclear test conducted by then the Soviet Union occurred. It was still quite a surprise for the Western Powers, who believed that Russia won’t be capable of producing nuclear warheads until 1953-1954. After the first test, the nation in question started to rapidly increase the amount of warheads they possessed. In the end of 1980s, they were the leading power when it comes to total number of warheads stored. It was approximately 40,000 warheads.

Nowadays, similarly to United States, the Russians store a total number of 6490 warheads, what is scarcely more than USA. When it comes to the number of deployed warheads, the amount is the same as in case of Americans, namely 1600 deployed warheads. We should also remember about the fact that Russia conducted over 700 tests, what makes them the second most important nation when it comes to developing nuclear weapons. However, it was the Soviet Union that managed to create the biggest bomb in the world. Known as Tsar Bomba, it had blast yield of 50 megatons of TNT.

Military service

North Korea

18 is presumed to be the legal minimum age for compulsory military service; 16-17 is the presumed legal minimum age for voluntary service.

Russia

18-27 years of age for compulsory or voluntary military service; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; 1-year service obligation (conscripts can only be sent to combat zones after 6 months of training); reserve obligation for non-officers to age 50; enrollment in military schools from the age of 16, cadets classified as members of the armed forces.