Special Operators: KPA Special Operations Forces, North Korea. 

The Blue House Raid would force South Korea to retaliate in kind by forming their own black ops unit with the expressed mission to assassinate then North Korean leader Kim Il Sun. This unit, being made up of 31 prisoners on death row was known better as Unit 684. It was basically South Korea's very own Suicide Squad or Dirty Dozen. The members of this unit underwent brutal training on the island of Silmido where at least two of them died. In 1971, after three years of preparation, the members of Unit 684 were ready to undergo their stated mission, however by then relations improved between North and South Korea, so the operation to assassinate Kim Il Sun was cancelled. This did not go over well with the members of Unit 684, who then mutinied. They would end up engaging in a firefight in Seoul against South Korean soldiers and police officers, which ended with all but four of the original thirty one members killed. The remaining four survivors were captured and tried in a secret a military tribunal, where all of them were sentenced to death. This event would later be adapted into a film known as Silmido, that was released in 2003.

All you would need to do, is offer them food. My dad fought in the Korean war. He told me so many laid down thier weapons for food. It was a terrible trench war.

The effectiveness of a military is typically inversely proportional to the number of medals on its Generals uniforms.

There's nothing "special" about a 200,000 strong special forces, other than the fact that they actually get fed. 😂

For the love of god please fix the audio sharpness on your “S” sounds. It’s piercing

For those wondering these forces do have some combat experience. They’re used by the regime as a form of diplomacy and in exchange those units get experience that they take home. One example is when they made a small appearance in the Syrian Civil War assisting the Assad Regimes forces against the rebels. They’re also the ones the DPRK was offering to send to Russia to assist in the Ukrainian war.

Simon needs an app linking all his channels with notifications. But then my phone would never stop!

After seeing the Special Forces series, please do feature the one on the Philippines' Special Forces, especially on the First Scout Ranger Regiment, NAVSOG, or the Light Reaction Regiment. I do want to hear your summarization of the details

I find the amount of “best fed” “well fed” comments hilarious because we know it’s soooo true.

I think for me the question would be has the SOF been allowed to 'fail' in drills and war games. If the answer is yes, and then the lessons reflected on, then yes it could be a very dangerous force. If no, and the 'correct' result desired at all times, much like the IJN war games prior to battles like Midway, then it could be a paper tiger force. There is also the question of peacetime theories not holding up to war time realities, something which happens repeatedly throughout history and Russia is currently experiencing in Ukraine. Obviously there's no way of knowing and to be honest, if it stayed that way it means war doesn't break out in Korea, which is a good thing.

Considering how North Korean citizens is sort of rented out to foreign powers as workforces by their government (lumberjacking in Russia and coal mining in China to name two examples) it isn't completely far-fetched to think that also NK elite forces are rented out to various entities as security personel and/or mercenaries. At any rate, even if NK as a nation haven't been actively fighting a war these last 60-70 years, I think there is plenty of combat experience to share in their ranks.

I don't want to underestimate any group of suppossed highly trained soldiers...but if you have to mention "best fed" to describe your special forces it kills any mystique they may have. Sounds like they will be demoralized and captured by their first encounter with any all-you-can-eat buffet.

It's 4am in Queensland Australia I got up just to watch this 😅 looks like we're set for a productive 24hrs

I served on the DMZ in the US Army in the mid 1980's, NKPA has always been volatile, elite or otherwise, it wasnt a joke then, isnt now, there is alot of unreported incdences to this day

2:13 "North Korea started making trouble in the..." *please say neighborhood please say neighborhood please say neighborhood* "...demilitarized zone" *awww 😔*

It helps to be able to operate and train outside of a country the size of one US state. Additionally their military is super top down driven. I have a feeling they would be gasping for breath in an evolving environment outside the contours of their country. I also think they would not blend in as well in the south as they would like to think.

I saw an interview with a former North Korean special forces operator. He said in 10 years he only fired his weapon 2 times. A single round each time. He missed the target both times. 😂

Anyone interested in this topic, and the armed forces of north korea in general, i HIGHLY recommend the book that came out in 2023: The Armed forces of North korea : The path of Songun by Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans (or the guys behind the Oryx Blog)

Amazing video! Can you explore the South korean special forces, too?

There is also an inverse relationship between the size of a special forces unit to its individual ability. If utilizing US echelons, Tier 2, 1 and Tier 0 exist. The higher up the totem pole you the smaller the number of soldiers there are. Delta/Green Beret to Rangers for example. Pardon my lack of enthusiasm that KPA SOF is a major threat with over 200K. I’d consider them an equivalent to a Revolutionary Guard from Iraq. Fanatic Loyalists with better equipment than regulars. I also laugh about eastern militaries who constantly show videos of martial arts. We teach combatives in the US, but it’s grapple focused as most combat in modern warfare equates to ranges of about 100-300 meters. Higher end for Insurgency, closer in for Ukraine’s current predicament. Granted any nation who does propaganda videos of their soldiers being “tough” in snow probably means they’re not actually training😂

14:46 even if canvas and wood were somehow invisible to radar, the engine and fuel tanks certainly aren’t

The way "AI" images are used here creates the impression that they depict the "reality" of North Korean troops. I look at them and at first think "Ahh, thats how they & their uniform look". I think I get a feel for them. Then I see its computer-generates and have the remove that false impression of reality from my mind. It is misinformation and trickery to "enhance" the video, but it only makes it feel cheap.

For those interested in this special topic who also enjoy movies about it, there's a really well made South Korean movie SHIRI, made in 1999 about this very topic. This was the very first South Korean "high budget" Hollywood-type movie from South Korea.(~$10M budget, for Korean moving making, back in the late 1990s... was like today's $150M - $200M Hollywood movie budgets.) It was so new, as a genre, for modern South Korean movie-making, in fact, that the director said they had to RENT the guns and other "special ops" military gear from some American movie making company. Some of South Koreans actresses & actors who would go on to become household names in South Korea and in Asian movies... got their start in SHIRI. Choi Min-sik being one of those, who played the senior commander from the special ops from the North. His ranting speech, once he's cornered, with noway out, about the corrupted South Koreans & their kids getting obese from eating American hamburgers, leaving his North Korea comrades & people in starvation mode, searching for & eating edible barks and grasses... was exceptionally moving, as far as memorable cinematic speeches go... The movie revolved around the romance of a special forces officer ("sleeper cell" agent) from the North (South Korea/American-born actress Kim Yun-jin, from TV series LOST) and a federal police detective Han Suk-kyu It had extreme violence, well choreography, well written monologues, political thrills, romance, tragedies, and all the ingredients made for good Hollywood type movies...

Can you please do a video on South Africa's Recces forces as well as Rhodesian fire force tactics

Really says something when you’re lying to your own special forces.

How to tell them apart from the average soldier….. they’re slightly better fed

We always joked, if you have seen a parachute in the DRPK, you're Special Forces.

This topic resulted in tons of comments that generated a treasure trove of highly factual and generally unknown stories about the Koreas. Simon's writers have a laundry list of possible follow ons. Great stuff.

Simon come back to the biography please 🙏🏿

Special operations are made possible by many elements, but one crucial aspect is initiative. Initiative, loosely defined here as the ability to independently assess, initiate and accomplish complex things in imaginative and creative ways, is an aspect that simply can not be adequately cultivated within an oppressive, fear riddled, thought crushing, one dimensional universe. North Korea will never be able to aquire, nor maintain a truly elite force because their political system prevents and punishes free thought, imagination and the ability to question things. All important elements of initiative. Without initiative, special operations are simply not possible.

I can remember reading years ago...like in the 80s...there are units in the NK that do nothing but practice taking a particular bridge, a roadway intersection, a river crossing. All each of those units does is spend the entire year training to take a specific target, and that's it. Each unit is expected to pretty much be decimated taking and holding that target until a regular NK army unit can arrive to pass through it.

Pretty sure these guys wouldn't even be a speed bump to the USMC

Saying that North Korea has special forces is like saying WNBA players can beat NBA players in basketball, it's just not real.

These guys are super dangerous ...if you're Bond villain henchmen attacking them one at a time, hand to hand, and die instantly after being thrown.

One of the crew of the USS Pueblo talked at our high school graduation. It wasn't until I was older that I understood what that was all about.

We also believed the Russian military was a large behemoth, but it was a flop. I think experience and technology is what counts. The DPRK wouldn't stand a chance against South Korea and the United States.

Wow the NK miltary has a lot of tanks, you know who else had a lot of tanks...Saddam Hussein (6000 Tanks 4000 APC's 3200 Artillery pieces )...That didn't go well for him. As somebody who has actually seen the ' Highway of Death ' near the Kuwait / Iraq border.....All I can say is, air Superiority and Technology will always dominate number of units

The thing is… DPRK can’t even get one victory for special forces.

I couldn’t understand or really comprehend what he means by extended stays south of the DMZ and then something about their leaders. Could someone who understands clarify please?

This is just my opinion, but to me all the videos that show those North Korea soldiers kicking concrete and running through concrete looks so fake 😂 honestly every North Korea military video looks fake to me

Is there a correlation between dictators and whether an army goose steps?

@ 8:35 slow down the speed of video to 0.25x and it sounds sooo hilarious i almost hyperventilated from laughing so hard 🤣 i went to see the snow covered soldiers in slow motion and heard some of the funniest sounding audio i’ve ever came across. whoever sees this, you’re welcome!!! ☠️

Quantity has a quality all its own

I'm no expert, but I am skeptical that NK actually has 200,000 trained and equipped special forces. Judging by the night time satellite photos I've seen, they dont even have that many light bulbs.

15:29 these AK's look very strange

Remember when we thought Russia had the 2nd strongest military in the world?….

Omgosh. My ears are burning w those esses.

Thanks!

Would love a segment on DSI, frim the Netherlands

Q: will Ecuador end up in civil war?

The Number of Audiophiles that follow Simons channels is bewildering.. At least i know im in the right place. Hes in a basic home office, go easy folks. I dont even see any acoustic foam, set the standards a little lower and enjoy the content imo.

Half way through.... basically a north Korean is going to come at me with 90s steven seagal buljustu or I'm fkd and I should be genuinely terrified for my family and get to the bunker.......

I hadn’t noticed until now!! Thanks for that!! Hahaha

Wow! Just wow.

That second guy was like "I've seen the error of my ways, im now a child of god, make love not war" 😂😂

I like the audio

Fact boi are you paying editiors well or someone took a piss for this videos, the audio is crazy

200 000 seam way to much to be special forces. As this is the size of not so special us Marines. I can easy belive 20-30 000

Ahhh I didn’t really hear it but dang I do now!!!

There was an episode of deadliest warrior that profiled North Korean Special Forces against the Green Berets.

Fair enough, I've been warned. ...still gonna make fun of them. It's an Army thing.

I agree with people wouldn't be surprised if they get loaned out as Mercs or for diplomatic purposes

Was this released on April 1st?

"equipped with the best and most modern equipment the supreme leader's money can buy" didnt know kruschev era tanks that are more likely to kill their crews than enemy attacks are were considered modern

Only in North Korea does "best fed" have to be called out as a positive attribute.

Wasn't it this organisation involved in the high profile assassination of Kim's exiled brother in Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia 🇲🇾 🤔

"The most well fed troops". That really shouldn't be a thing.

I don't know much about ROK's intelligence agencies (potentially a good topic there), but I imagine there is substantial counterintelligence on DPRK's SOF.

At the end of the day, the North Korean military lacks the real world experience. Even during what could be deemed “peacetime”, U.S. Special Operations Forces continue to be engaged in missions worldwide.

Them having to add “best fed” tells you a lot.

In addition to the person who requested fixing the sibilance, please, for the love of God, utilize some compression on your audio! I constantly have to turn my volume up and down, and frequently absolutely CRANK it, in order to hear what you're saying when your volume trails off. Totally kills your production quality and the overall experience.

Simon…. SLYTHERIN!

Could His Troops ??? Look Any More Scrawneir ???

Special forces: taller than 5 foot 4, can carry half their body weight, 3 bowls of rice a day

Aaaaand they've never, EVER been tested against a true peer or even near peer opponent. EVER. Fanaticism is one thing, but that doesn't leave an open door for innovation or creative problem solving, just orthodoxy.

C'mon Simon! Dont tell them

If you have to comment about how your special military is more "well fed" than others, you might have already lost some power.

I wouldn't want to fight either Korea. South Korea has a well funded, equipped, and trained military. They are very tough. North Korea has a Soviet style artillery heavy army. Seoul is within range 😬

How did I get here this early

Nothing says a military is dangerous like decades of no combat and crippling corruption.

They are capable of stopping bullets with their face.

On July 27, 2023, soldiers from the 41st Amphibious Assault Battalion marched during military parade.

Please do the expedition of the thousand

Haven't run across a firearm yet that doesn't kill out of date or not....

Starting to understand why the Business Blaze North Korean Special was never released.

Best korea! 🇰🇵

What did people say about the ruzzian military again?

Thank you . ( 2024 / Jan / 17 )

I'm assuming north korea is using the term special as the west does with the special olympics

can their soldiers even get access to food?

Do an episode on the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service, also known as the Golden Division.

NORF KOREER FC ‘Ate Souf Koreer ‘Ate Mericar ‘Ate Capitulism ‘Luv me Great leader ‘Luv me Juce ‘Luv me missile Simple as.

Why do all dictators love goose stepping?

So the North Korean special forces are likely to be very similar to Japanese soldiers from world

All special forces means is you might get enough to eat.

Kim loves popeyes chicken.

Welp I'm early

It’s worth remembering how hard and zealously the Japanese fought in the closing years of WWII, for the honour of their god-king.

Well, they still are humans and everyone has a price...

I thought you swore off doing videos about North Korea.