Editing Korean People's Army (section)

==History==
[[File:Flag of the Korean People's Army (1948).svg|thumb|The KPA's first flag, used in 1948]]
[[File:Flag of the Korean People's Army (1992).svg|thumb|The KPA's flag from 1992 to 1993. Since this flag's retirement in 1993, the KPA has not had its own dedicated flag.]]
[[File:Flag of the Korean People's Army Ground Force (1993-2023).svg|thumb|The flag of the [[Korean People's Army Ground Force|KPA Ground Force]] (in use from 1993 to 2023) was sometimes used to represent the entire Korean People's Army.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What North Korea's army flags can teach us about its recent history |last1=Tertitskiy |first1=Fyodor|last2=Hotham|first2=Oliver|work=[[NK News]] |date=10 April 2018 |access-date=12 November 2018|url=https://www.nknews.org/2018/04/what-north-koreas-army-flags-can-teach-us-about-its-recent-history/|quote = The modern design of the flags appeared in 1993, when Kim Jong Il replaced the flag of the KPA with three separate ones for the army, navy, and air force. [...] despite some claims, there has been no design for a unified flag for all the Armed Forces since: the DPRK occasionally, however, uses the Ground Forces flag as a substitute to symbolize the entire military.}}</ref>]]
[[File:Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum Monument4.jpg|thumb|A monument in Pyongyang, depicting North Korean airmen and a [[MiG]] fighter]]

===Korean People's Revolutionary Army, 1932–1948===
[[Kim Il Sung]]'s anti-Japanese guerrilla army, the {{ill|Korean People's Revolutionary Army|ko|조선인민혁명군}}, was established on 25 April 1932. This revolutionary army was transformed into the People's Army in anticipation of the regime's establishment on February 8, 1948. Until 1977, they commemorated February 8 as the "Founding Day" of the army. However, since 1978, they changed it to April 25, designating it as the "Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Army" and holding large-scale commemorative events. The reason for changing the date of the founding of the People's Army in North Korea is that Kim Il Sung organized the "Anti-Japanese People's Guerrilla Unit", a unit of the Anti-Japanese People's Army, in Ando County, Manchuria, on April 25, 1932, which later developed into the "Korean People's Revolutionary Army" and played a significant role in the anti-Japanese struggle. This is based on the "Kim Il Sung revolutionary tradition."<ref name= KPRA/> Both of these are celebrated as [[Military Foundation Day|army days]], with decennial anniversaries treated as major celebrations, except from 1978 to 2014 when only the 1932 anniversary was celebrated.<ref name=38north-20180201>{{cite news |url=https://www.38north.org/2018/02/rcarlin020118/ |title=A Few Facts on North Korea's Army Day |last=Carlin |first=Robert |work=[[38 North]] |publisher=U.S.-Korea Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies |date=1 February 2018 |access-date=3 February 2018 |archive-date=9 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109212924/https://www.38north.org/2018/02/rcarlin020118/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="founded">See "Puk chuyo'gi'nyŏm'il 5–10 nyŏnmada taegyumo yŏlpyŏngsik" (North Korea Holds Large Military Parades for Anniversaries Every 5–10 years), Chosŏn Ilbo, 25 April 2007; Chang Jun-ik, "Pukhan Inmingundaesa" (History of the North Korean Military), Seoul, Sŏmundang, 1991, pp. 19–88; Kim Kwang-su, "Chosŏninmingun'ŭi ch'angsŏlgwa palchŏn, 1945~1990" (Foundation and Development of the Korean People's Army, 1945~1990), Chapter Two in Kyŏngnam University North Korean Studies Graduate School, Pukhan'gunsamunje'ŭi chaejomyŏng (The Military of North Korea: A New Look), Seoul, Hanul Academy, 2006, pp. 63–78.</ref><ref name= KPRA>{{cite web| script-title=ko:조선인민혁명군 (朝鮮人民革命軍)| publisher = [[Encyclopedia of Korean Culture]]| url = https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0070134| access-date = 2023-10-24| language = ko| archive-date = 30 October 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231030133204/https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0070134| url-status = live}}</ref>

===Korean Volunteer Army, 1939–1948===
In 1939, the [[Korean Volunteer Army]] (KVA), was formed in [[Yan'an]], China.<ref>Scobell & Sanford 2007, p. 18.</ref> The two individuals responsible for the army were [[Kim Tu-bong]] and [[Mu Chong]]. At the same time, a school was established near Yan'an for training military and political leaders for a future independent Korea. By 1945, the KVA had grown to approximately 1,000 men, mostly Korean deserters from the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]. 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.<ref>Elleman, Bruce. ''Beijing's Power and China's Borders: Twenty Neighbors in Asia''. Routledge (2014). pp. 116–117</ref>

===Soviet Korean Units===
Just after [[World War II]] ended and during the Soviet Union's occupation of the part of Korea north of the 38th Parallel, the Soviet [[25th Army (Soviet Union)|25th Army]] headquarters in Pyongyang issued a statement ordering all armed resistance groups in the northern part of the peninsula to disband on 12 October 1945. Two thousand Koreans with previous experience in the Soviet [[Red Army]] were sent to various locations around the country to organise [[constabulary]] forces with permission from Soviet military headquarters, and the force was created on 21 October 1945.<ref>Scobell & Sanford 2007, pp. 18–19.</ref>

===Formation of National Army===
The headquarters felt a need for a separate unit for security around railways, and the formation of the unit was announced on 11 January 1946. That unit was activated on 15 August of the same year to supervise existing security forces and creation of the national armed forces.<ref name=ScobellSanford2007p19>Scobell & Sanford 2007, p. 19.</ref>

Military institutes such as the Pyongyang Academy (became No. 2 KPA Officers School in Jan. 1949) and the Central Constabulary Academy (became KPA Military Academy in Dec. 1948) soon followed for the education of political and military officers for the new armed forces.

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. The previously semi-official units became military regulars with the distribution of Soviet uniforms, badges, and weapons that followed the inception of the headquarters.<ref name=ScobellSanford2007p19/>

The [[State Security Department]], a forerunner to the Ministry of People's Defense, was created as part of the Interim People's Committee on 4 February 1948. The formal creation of the Korean People's Army was announced four days later on 8 February, the day after the Fourth Plenary Session of the People's Assembly approved the plan to separate the roles of the military and those of the police,<ref>James M. Minnich, The North Korean People's Army, p. 36</ref> seven months before the [[Government of North Korea|government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea]] was proclaimed on 9 September 1948. In addition, the Ministry of Defense was established, which controlled a central guard battalion, two divisions, and an independent mixed and combined arms brigade.<ref>Scobell & Sanford 2007, p. 20.</ref>

===Conflicts and events===
[[File:Mansudae Grand Monument 26.JPG|thumb|upright|The Memorial of Soldiers at the Mansudae Grand Monument]]
Before the outbreak of the [[Korean War]], Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]] equipped the KPA with modern armaments.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Korean War 101: Causes, Course, and Conclusion of the Conflict |url=https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/the-korean-war-101-causes-course-and-conclusion-of-the-conflict |website=Association for Asian Studies |access-date=28 September 2023 |archive-date=16 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216220858/https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/the-korean-war-101-causes-course-and-conclusion-of-the-conflict/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Korean War |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Korean-War |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=28 September 2023 |archive-date=24 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424090911/https://www.britannica.com/event/Korean-War |url-status=live }}</ref> During the opening phases of the Korean War in 1950, the KPA quickly drove South Korean forces south and [[First Battle of Seoul|captured Seoul]], only to lose 70,000 of their 100,000-strong army in the autumn after U.S. amphibious landings at the [[Battle of Incheon]] and a subsequent drive to the [[Yalu River]]. On 4 November, China openly staged a military intervention. The KPA subsequently played a secondary and minor role to the Chinese [[People's Volunteer Army]] in the remainder of the conflict. By the time of the Armistice in 1953, the KPA had sustained 290,000 casualties and lost 90,000 men as POWs.
	
In 1953, the [[Military Armistice Commission]] (MAC) was able to oversee and enforce the terms of the armistice. The [[Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission]] (NNSC), made up of delegations from [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]], [[Polish People's Republic|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.
	
Soviet thinking on the strategic scale was replaced in December 1962 with the Maoist concept of a [[people's war]]. Along with the mechanization of some infantry units, more emphasis was put on light weapons, high-angle indirect fire, night fighting, and sea denial.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+kp0146)|title=The Evolution of North Korean Military Thought|work=North Korea Country Study|publisher=[[Library of Congress Country Studies]]|year=1993|access-date=3 September 2012|archive-date=9 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109103947/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+kp0146)|url-status=live}}</ref>