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(VIDEO) See how the North Korean military compares to the US in terms of personnel & equipment

April 21, 2017

The drums of war are sounding loud and clear, the loudest and clearest in over 60-years in the Pacific Ocean. North Korea has systematically defied every warning, every exhortation, every attempt, subtle and not-so-subtle regarding their long range weapons and nuclear ambitions. Every attempt seems to have been made to persuade them to give up their ludicrous intentions on building something that would only bring about their demise, along with the demise of countless North Korean citizens.

Related North Korea Info

How America Keeps Watch Over North Korea – Complete with Pictures and Infographics

In any case, in every war, numbers and comparison matter. Because of that, here is a look at both countries, the U.S. and North Korea, in terms of numbers. Of course, the times when wars were fought directly between two aggravated parties are well over.

North Korea Estimated AD Personnel


Globalization and alliances have made wars more inclusive. China and Russia, for example, are two of the possible partners of North Korea in case of open hostilities. However, economically, it would be ill-advised to any of them to go against the U.S.

U.S. Army AD Personnel

As the video points out, based on the numbers, the United States military vastly overshadows North Korea’s Korean People’s Army.

As the first part of the video shows, the United States is much larger than North Korea in terms of population, overall land size and economy. According to the video, North Korea’s population is roughly 25 million while the United States overall population is roughly 325 million. The United States’ overall GDP is roughly $18.5 trillion while North Korea’s GDP is roughly $12.5 billion, which is more than 1,000 times smaller than the United States’.

In terms of ground forces, the United States military edges out North Korea in terms of active duty personnel in the military. The United States has roughly 1.3 million personnel while North Korea has somewhere between 950,000 and 1.2 million personnel. The United States also has a larger population pool that are eligible to join the military.

While North Korea has roughly double the amount of multiple rocket launchers and artillery as the United States, the United States has roughly 3,000 more tanks and 40,000 more armored fighting vehicles.


In terms of air superiority, the United States has thousands more aircraft than North Korea. North Korea has roughly 1,000 total aircraft while the United States has roughly 10,000-12,000.

The United States military has a great advantage in terms of Naval forces as well. The United States has more than ten aircraft carriers while North Korea doesn’t have any. The United States also has dozens of Destroyers compared to North Korea’s zero.

Check it out: