The below article has a number of charts showing the unclassified military capabilities that the North Korean military has.  Out of all the military equipment and  personnel they have their biggest threats I believe is their artillery due to its proximity to Seoul and then their ballistic missiles that can strike all of South Korea as well as targets off of the peninsula with chemical and in the future nuclear weapons:

The US Office of the Secretary of the Defense has released its annual report to Congress on North Korea’s military, and the findings are chilling. Included in the report are the following three maps, which outline North Korea’s military might.

North Korea’s ground forces make up the primary thrust of the rogue nation’s military. Nearly 70% of its ground forces are forward deployed to within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the South Korean border.

The ground forces are a mix of infantry corps, which are predominantly comprised of regular and light-infantry units. In general, these forces are housed in fortified underground facilities facing toward South Korea.

In addition to infantry, the ground corps also has large armor and artillery corps. Although corps make use of old technology, their forward-deployed nature remains a threat to South Korea. North Korea’s artillery, in particular, is worrisome as the long-range cannons and rockets are capable of hitting South Korea’s capital, Seoul, from over the border in the event of a war.

But aside from North Korea’s special forces, its ground forces are generally underfed, ill-equipped, and poorly trained.  [Business Insider]

You can read the rest at the link.

Shortly after SAM deployment, fighter jets seen on disputed Woody Island in South China Seahttps://t.co/yntdmC6HnQ pic.twitter.com/YGzeMIUYHI

— Voice of America (@VOANews) February 24, 2016

Male cadets raise their fists in a gesture of solidarity during a graduation ceremony at the Armed Forces Nursing Academy in the central city of Daejeon on Feb. 24, 2016. It marks the first time male cadets have graduated from the nursing school. (Yonhap)

The deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea is taking another step closer to becoming reality:

The United States and South Korea are expected “within a week” to hold the first meeting of a joint working group aimed at discussing the proposed deployment of the THAAD missile defense system, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea said Wednesday.

Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti told the House Armed Services Committee that it will take some time to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system to the South as the working group has determine the right location and other details.

“We’re forming a joint working group that I think will have its first meeting within a week,” he said. “THAAD is a complex system. It’s going to take some time for us to find the right location because where you locate it makes a difference on how effective it is. So we got to find the right location and do that work, which we will do in accordance with our SOFA.”  [Yonhap]

The Chinese are still complaining about the deployment and I really like what the PACOM commander Admiral Harris had to say in response:

U.S. Pacific Commander Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr. criticized China’s opposition to THAAD, saying it is “preposterous that China would try to wedge itself between South Korea and the United States for a missile system designed to defend Americans and Koreans.”

It is good to see someone calling out the Chinese on how preposterous their criticisms of the THAAD deployment are.

Here is an article that talks how much former 8th Army Commander LTG Campbell appreciated his time in Korea:

Late former 8th U.S. Army commander Charles Campbell considered it one of his greatest honors that he was given a Korean name meaning defender of Korea while serving with the Asian ally, his family said Friday.

Campbell, who commanded the 8th Army from 2002 to 2006, died Feb. 8 of an illness at age 68.

“General Campbell often commented that one of his greatest honors was when the South Korea-U.S. Alliance Friendship Group gifted him with the name ‘Kim, Han-su,’” his family said in an obituary carried by the Shreveport Times and other local media.

“His Korean name means ‘the great defender and protector of Korean freedom and peace.’ General Campbell reserved a special place in his heart for the people of South Korea and especially General Paik Sun-yup, South Korea’s greatest hero of the Korean War,” the family said.

Paik, the South Korean Army’s first four-star general, provided Campbell “with guidance and counsel that was invaluable to him during his many commands in Korea,” the obituary said.

Campbell’s memorial service is scheduled for Feb. 22 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Shreveport. [Korea Times]

"Kim Jong-un is the executor of the legacy." Some of my notes noted by @BBC @EvanstheAirwave https://t.co/7gGcaJd6Ql pic.twitter.com/LFzVZ6xzHP

— Adam Cathcart (@adamcathcart) February 24, 2016

Wee Sung-ho (R), president of the Korea National Defense University (KNDU), and Frederick Padilla, president of the National Defense University of the U.S., shake hands after signing a memorandum of understanding in Seoul on Feb. 24, 2016, for academic exchanges between their institutions. The agreement covers exchanges of teaching staff and students, conducting joint studies and sharing of research findings. (Photo courtesy of KNDU) (Yonhap)

I think the Kim regime is counting on China to bail them out of any serous economic troubles caused by increased sanctions in order to maintain regime stability:

 

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un regime may face resistance from its military should the armed forces grow disgruntled at its bungled economic policy under the communist party-centric politics, a government-commissioned report showed Tuesday.

Written by the Industry-Academy Cooperation Foundation affiliated with the Seoul National University of Education, the report warned the absence of economic progress in the impoverished state could weaken the governing legitimacy of the Workers’ Party.

The report, entitled “A Study on the Party-Military Relations of the Kim Jong-un Regime,” was commissioned by the Unification Ministry.

It underscored the importance of Pyongyang’s economic growth for the autocratic ruler to secure the people’s backing and legitimize his authority.

The relatively smooth transition toward the current Kim regime was a “result of the military’s relative concessions,” the report said, noting that under the young leader the center of power has shifted to the ruling party from the military.

But the military could call for reshaping the political order in its own favor if Kim fails to shore up the country’s debilitated economy and ensure sustainable military expenditures, the report pointed out.

“The stability of the Kim regime and party-military relations hinges on the country’s economic growth and continued military spending,” the report said.   [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link.

It looks like South Korean students will no longer be dressed in clothes made by quasi-slave labor:

Tens of thousands of secondary school students may not be able to wear school uniforms for the upcoming semester, as suppliers based in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) are unable to deliver the goods in time after the complex was shut down due to strained inter-Korean relations.

Those students may have to wait for up to two more months to buy new uniforms, while the new semester begins on March 2.

A day after South Korea announced the shutdown of the inter-Korean industrial park on Feb. 10, North Korea expelled all South Korean workers from the complex.

According to Mansun, a uniform subcontractor to Hyungji Elite, the largest school uniform manufacturer here, more than 80,000 sets of uniforms were left behind in its factory in Gaeseong.

“When we were forced out, we were not allowed to take our products with us,” an official from Mansun said. “Not only us but three other subcontractors for school uniform manufacturers were prevented from bringing the products, causing the uniform supply shortage.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

China issues instructions on urban planning, buildings should be fitting, economical, environment-friendly, artistic pic.twitter.com/jSDjIksg20

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) February 21, 2016