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Military power of Switzerland & North Korea

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Switzerland vs North Korea

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Switzerland North Korea

Switzerland is a country located in Central Europe with an area of 41,285 km2 (land boundries: 1,770 km and costline 0 km (landlocked)). The capital of Switzerland is Bern. The number of inhabitants is 8,570,146.

Switzerland has long maintained a policy of military neutrality, but does periodically participate in EU, NATO, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Swiss law excludes participation in combat operations for peace enforcement, and Swiss units will only participate in operations under the mandate of the UN or OSCE. The Swiss Armed Forces inventory includes a mix of domestically-produced and imported weapons systems. The United States is the leading supplier of military armaments.

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

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 5.3 billion $ 1.6 billion $
Percent of GDP: 0.7% 4.9%

Military budget

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Highest value in the world: 816 billion $ (USA)
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Manpower

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Active personnel: 140,000 1,280,000
Reserve personnel: 80,000 600,000
Available for military: 1,852,580 6,515,279

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: 224 6,000
Armoured fighting vehicles: 1,808 4,000
Total artillery: 176 13,000
Self-propelled artillery: 176 4,500
Rocket artillery: 0 4,000

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: 178 960
Fighter aircraft: 27 349
Multirole aircraft: 25 35
Attack aircraft: 0 188
Helicopters: 57 202
UCAV (combat drone): 0 0

Total aircraft

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Highest value in the world: 12,930 (USA)
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Navy

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Total naval: 0 967
Aircraftcarriers: 0 0
Destroyers: 0 0
Frigates: 0 2
Corvettes: 0 8
Submarines: 0 72

Total naval

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

Switzerland

Does not have 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.

Military service

Switzerland

19-26 years of age for male compulsory military service; 18 years of age for voluntary male and female military service; every Swiss male has to serve at least 260 days in the armed forces; conscripts receive 18 weeks of mandatory training, followed by seven 3-week intermittent recalls for training during the next 10 years.

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.