As of 2021[update] it is the second largest military organisation in the world, with 29.9% of the North Korean population actively serving, in reserve or in a paramilitary capacity.

During this period, the KVA fought alongside the Chinese communist Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army from which it drew its arms and ammunition.

After the defeat of the Japanese, the KVA accompanied the Chinese Communist Party forces into eastern Jilin, intending to gain recruits from ethnic Koreans in China, particularly from Yanbian, and then enter Korea.

After the military was organised and facilities to educate its new recruits were constructed, the Constabulary Discipline Corps was reorganised into the Korean People's Army General Headquarters.

In addition, the Ministry of Defense was established, which controlled a central guard battalion, two divisions, and an independent mixed and combined arms brigade.

The KPA subsequently played a secondary and minor role to the Chinese People's Volunteer Army in the remainder of the conflict.

The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC), made up of delegations from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland, carried out inspections to ensure implementation of the terms of the Armistice that prevented reinforcements or new weapons being brought into Korea.

Along with the mechanization of some infantry units, more emphasis was put on light weapons, high-angle indirect fire, night fighting, and sea denial.

At the Eighteenth session of the sixth Central People's Committee, held on 23 May 1990, the SAC became established as its own independent commission, rising to the same status as the CPC (now the Cabinet of North Korea) and not subordinated to it, as was the case before.

[22] The constitution now stipulated that the mission of North Korea's armed forces was to "defend unto death the Party Central Committee headed by the great Comrade Kim Jong Un".

[30][needs update] The North Korean Songun ("Military First") policy elevates the KPA to the primary position in the government and society.

As of 2003[update], according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, North Korea's defence budget consumed some 25 percent of central government spending.

[32] In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, according to figures released by the Polish Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, between 32 and 38 percent of central government expenditures went towards defence.

A cumulative total of more than 5,000 foreign personnel have been trained in North Korea, and over 7,000 military advisers, primarily from the Reconnaissance General Bureau, have been dispatched to some forty-seven countries.

Some of the organisations which received North Korean aid include the Polisario Front, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, the Communist Party of Thailand, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Since the Korean War, it has continued to play a role of concentrating infiltration of troops into the territory of South Korea and conducting sabotage.

[34] In response to this predicament, North Korea relies on asymmetric warfare techniques and unconventional weaponry to achieve parity against high-tech enemy forces.

As of 2014[update], the secretive Bureau 121 – the elite North Korean cyber warfare unit – comprises approximately 1,800 highly trained hackers.

In December 2014, the Bureau was accused of hacking Sony Pictures and making threats, leading to the cancellation of The Interview, a political satire comedy film based on the assassination of Kim Jong Un.

[61] Some analysts suggest that these have either been refurbished with the help of Russian experts or their launch tubes have been reverse-engineered and externally fitted to regular submarines or cargo ships.

[63] The Korean People's Army operates a very large amount of equipment, including 4,100 tanks, 2,100 APCs, 8,500 field artillery pieces, 5,100 multiple rocket launchers,[53] 11,000 air defence guns and some 10,000 MANPADS and anti-tank guided missiles[64] in the Ground force; about 500 vessels in the Navy[53] and 730 combat aircraft in the Air Force,[53] of which 478 are fighters and 180 are bombers.

In March 2024, Kim Jong Un was pictured driving a newly developed tank alongside soldiers taking part in drills which the leader said was preparation for war.

[73] Leader Kim Jong Un observed the test at the Academy of Defense Science and called it a "decisive turn"[This quote needs a citation] in bolstering the combat power of the North Korean army.

[75][76] The regime conducted two tests of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead in July 2017.

The Pentagon confirmed North Korea's ICBM tests, and analysts estimate that the new missile has a potential range of 10,400 kilometres (6,500 miles) and, if fired on a flatter trajectory, could be capable of reaching mainland U.S.

[77][78][additional citation(s) needed] On 9 October 2006, the North Korean government announced that it had unsuccessfully attempted a nuclear test for the first time.

Experts at the United States Geological Survey and Japanese seismological authorities detected an earthquake with a preliminary estimated magnitude of 4.3 from the site in North Korea, proving the official claims to be true.

[82] On 3 September 2017, the North Korean leadership announced that it had conducted a nuclear test with what it claimed to be its first hydrogen bomb detonation.

[83] The detonation took place at an underground location at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Hamgyong Province at 12:00 pm local time.

During the parade on 10 October 2020, a range of at least five new pixelated camouflage patterns and new soldiers' combat gear such as body armor, bulletproof helmets of all branches were shown for the first time.