국가수립 전후 북한의 병역제도와 모병실태

Abstract

The military service system in North Korea was basically operated as a volunteer military system before and after the establishment of the state. Korean political forces recruited youths on January 20, 1948 to fully organize the army, and recruited young people from July 1948 to fully organize the Korean People's Army(KPA). The North Korean government also mobilized young people aged between 18 and 25 from February 1949 to prepare for a full-scale attack. In particular, the North Korean government planned to rapidly expand its army by intensively recruiting young people born in 1924-1925, who worked in the Japanese army before liberation. The military service system in North Korea was not a complete volunteer military system before and after the establishment of the nation but a volunteer military system combined with the allocation system. However, the number of troops actually recruited was less than the number assigned troops. The reason for this was that there were many dropouts in the screening process and fewer people were recruited by continuing to recruit similar age groups. However, the North Korean government recruited most of the eligible young men between the ages of 18 and 25 through military service from January 1948 to April 1949. The troops recruited during this period were the foundation upon which the KPA could be expanded after April 1949.