NKPA Rations

[Bypah]

Something related...check these links.
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/sh ... 8ba2bb1472

http://www.nkeconwatch.com/nk-uploads/k ... 1-no-4.pdf

[donaldjcheek]

Some things to consider.

The NKs have a freakin' HUGE army; something like 20% of the entire population is in uniform, and yes the police are militarized. But the DPRK is a poor country, with limited resources. (Yes, they do have some modern technology - but that technology is for the benefit of certain military units and the Party. Most are getting by on '70s era technology.) That means the majority of the population is just barely scraping by, with persistent food cuts and near-starvation the norm.

As for as food, the Inmingun doesn't have the money to buy a lot of imported combat rations. Canning technology dates from the late '50s and there just isn't much need - or the resources - to pursue anything more modern. Some imported hi-tech rations, certainly, but not for your average grunt. For the LIBs (Light Infantry Brigades) only.

BTW, the staple grain in the north is NOT rice, but millet. It's too cold, too rocky, and too mountainous to grow a lot of rice.

Bear this in mind: in 1950, the average North Korean was about 2 cm TALLER than his Southern counterpart. Now the average South Korean is 6-8 cm taller, and the average height in North Korea has actually SHRUNK by 2 cm. The cumulative effects of (literally) decades of malnutrition.

[fdsman]

North Korea doesn't have shit. If they did, they would have used it long ago...

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... eapons.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... index.html

DON'T UNDERESTIMATE YOUR ENEMY!!!!!!
That has been the problem of the US. Look what happened in Irak with the insurgency and now what is happening in Afghanistan.
right now we are bogged down....
The North koreans have been stock pilling and upgrading their equipment for yearsin preparation for a final confrontation with the south and an eventual unification under their rule.... For them the war never ended!
You never show your enemy what you got....is like poker you never give away your hand!!!!


I will leave you some food for thought.....

"Let your plans be dark and as impenetratable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."

"PRETEND INFERIORITY AND ENCOURAGE HIS ARROGANCE (of the enemy)"

"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."

"All war is deception."
"SHOW YOUR STRENGTHS AS YOUR WEAKNESS...YOUR WEAKNESS AS YOUR STRENGTHS."

From the ART OF WAR.....
Sun Tzu

That list really tells me nothing. What it does say is that they have lots of tanks without engines, missiles without warheads and the rest is self explanatory. Of course they have some actual weapons, but I'd be betting out of every 6 missiles you see, only one of them is equipped with a destructive warhead. We did the same with the Japanese. If they hadn't surrendered after we dropped our two nukes we would not be in the same situation we are today.

[Treesuit]

Donaldjcheek,

BTW, the staple grain in the north is NOT rice, but millet. It's too cold, too rocky, and too mountainous to grow a lot of rice.

Okay, how do you grow that? Especially in a hard region like NK? If it's not rice, then what is it?

Also, I'm not buying into the idea of NK not modernizing there resources for food production, not yet mind you. I'm still on the idea that they have modern food producion for feeding the masses but just not using them. You figure with a million man army with special operation forces that's a lot of food to produce and I am still certain they have canned foods from China to supplement their forces in the event of a conflict. Right now, I think they're holding back and not showing there hand, mostly to try and get humanitarian aid and extort the western countries for food staples. It's an old trick they've used in the past and it seems to work everytime the rattle the sabre at the SK's and the west.

[donaldjcheek]

TS

The NKs do grow rice, but a lot of the land is not suitable for rice cultivation. Millet, sorghum, buckwheat and some corn are grown as primary crops. Potatoes were introduced in 2000. Rice is grown in the southern part of the DPRK - but a lot of potential fields are too close to the DMZ, and the NKs don't allow farming there.

Please read what I wrote. The fact that the average height in North Korea - including the soldiers - is shrinking is indicative of long-term malnutrition. This spring the North Korean military ordered conscription boards to REDUCE the minimum height standards from 140 cm (55 inches) to 137 cm (54 inches.) There is now a 4-5 inch disparity in the heights of the average North Korean and South Korean soldier.

In 1950, the average North Korean was 2-3 cm taller than the average South Korean; now the average NK is 10-11 cm shorter, and also 2-3 cm shorter than his 1950 counterpart.

Photo studies of food factories in the DPRK show simple canned goods. No retort pouches, no plastic packaging, no vast array of consumer foods. Just simple, basic canned foods that look like something out of the 1950s. Think about this also: it doesn't matter how good your canning industry is if there's nothing to preserve. With over a million people starved to death in 1998-99, and another half-million since then, I don't think there was a lot of food to can. Even canned goods have a shelf life, so I doubt the military has vast reserves of combat ration.

In my opinion, the InMinGun will go to war with pretty much the same rations they had in 1950: dried rice, milled sorghum, a few canned meats, and some hard biscuits.

[Bypah]

...and whatever China can spare.

[biscuits brown]

I saw on wikileaks that the NKs make special empty ration cans. When you open them, empty.
For deception purposes. Think of it as stealth rations.
Just like they have tanks with no engines, and missiles with no warheads.

[fdsman]

I saw on wikileaks that the NKs make special empty ration cans. When you open them, empty.
For deception purposes. Think of it as stealth rations.
Just like they have tanks with no engines, and missiles with no warheads.

Be my guest and keep fearing the North Koreans. As we keep sending them food aid all we're doing is preventing the freedom of the North Korean people even longer by feeding the dear leader and his military. I guess you are happy with the number of starving people that die in North Korea as a result of us keeping the totalitarians alive.

[biscuits brown]

fdsman, you are seriously underestimating the capacity of the NKs forces for internal AND external aggression.
This is the flaw in your posts on this imo.
It is not fear, it is a realistic assesment of NKs huge NBC stockpiles, especially nerve gas and bacteria, and 70s but still deadly technology.
The sunshine policy of the former SK govt is over. Even if all the food aid dries up the people will not rebel for the chance of vending machines in their local high street.
There has been 70 years of Stalinist totalitarian control in NK. The population is very resistant to "propaganda"
Now that the regime faces crisis, now they are at their most dangerous.
They are not Iran. Iran until 1979 was relatively "normal"; probably most Persian people and emigres still want normality back, except for the young who have indeed been brainwashed by the islamic totalitarian regime.
NK has never been "normal"
A highly dangerous and unpredictable regime.

[fdsman]

fdsman, you are seriously underestimating the capacity of the NKs forces for internal AND external aggression.
This is the flaw in your posts on this imo.
It is not fear, it is a realistic assesment of NKs huge NBC stockpiles, especially nerve gas and bacteria, and 70s but still deadly technology.
The sunshine policy of the former SK govt is over. Even if all the food aid dries up the people will not rebel for the chance of vending machines in their local high street.
There has been 70 years of Stalinist totalitarian control in NK. The population is very resistant to "propaganda"
Now that the regime faces crisis, now they are at their most dangerous.
They are not Iran. Iran until 1979 was relatively "normal"; probably most Persian people and emigres still want normality back, except for the young who have indeed been brainwashed by the islamic totalitarian regime.
NK has never been "normal"
A highly dangerous and unpredictable regime.

As I said, go right along and believe all the reports you hear. I will not be so gullible and foolish as to fear a non-existent threat.