๐ฐ๐ต
North Korean Military Ranks
The North Korean Army has 24 ranks โ 16 officer and 8 enlisted โ from ์ ์ฌ Chลnsa up to ๋์์ Tae wonsu. Below: all 64 ranks across 3 branches (Army, Navy, Air Force), with insignia and NATO-code equivalents.
Branches
3
Ranks documented
64
Active personnel
1.3M
Army
Rank Ladder
Highest first · 24 of 24 matched
| ๐ฐ๐ต North Korea · Army | NATO code |
Equivalent in
|
|---|---|---|
| Officers | ||
๋์์ Tae wonsu
|
OF-10 Marshal / General of the Army |
General of the Army
|
๊ณตํ๊ตญ์์ Konghwaguk Wonsu
|
OF-10 Marshal / General of the Army |
General of the Army
|
์ธ๋ฏผ๊ตฐ์์ Inmingun-wonsu
|
OF-10 Marshal / General of the Army |
General of the Army
|
์ฐจ์ Chasu
|
OF-10 Marshal / General of the Army |
General of the Army
|
๋์ฅ Daejang
|
OF-9 General |
General
|
์์ฅ Sangjang
|
OF-8 Lieutenant General |
Lieutenant general
|
์ค์ฅ Chungjang
|
OF-7 Major General |
Major general
|
์์ฅ Sojang
|
OF-6 Brigadier General |
Brigadier general
|
๋์ข Daechwa
|
OF-5 Colonel |
Colonel
|
์์ข Sangjwa
|
OF-5 Colonel |
Colonel
|
์ค์ข Chungjwa
|
OF-4 Lieutenant Colonel |
Lieutenant colonel
|
์์ข Sojwa
|
OF-3 Major / Commandant |
Major
|
๋์ Taewi
|
OF-2 Captain / 1st Lieutenant |
Captain
|
์์ Sangwi
|
OF-1 Lieutenant |
First lieutenant
Second lieutenant
|
์ค์ Chungwi
|
OF-1 Lieutenant |
First lieutenant
Second lieutenant
|
์์ Sowi
|
OF-1 Lieutenant |
First lieutenant
Second lieutenant
|
| Enlisted ranks | ||
ํน๋ฌด์์ฌ T'ลญkmu-sangsa
|
OR-8 1st Sergeant |
First sergeant
Master sergeant
|
์์ฌ Sangsa
|
OR-7 Sergeant 1st Class |
Sergeant first class
|
์ค์ฌ Chungsa
|
OR-6 Staff Sergeant |
Staff sergeant
|
ํ์ฌ Hasa
|
OR-5 Sergeant |
Sergeant
|
์๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Sanggลญp-pyลngsa
|
OR-4 Corporal |
Specialist
Corporal
|
์ค๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Chungลญp-pyลngsa
|
OR-3 Private 1st Class |
Private first class
|
ํ๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Hagลญp-pyลngsa
|
OR-2 Private |
Private
|
์ ์ฌ Chลnsa
|
OR-1 Private | Private |
Navy
Rank Ladder
Highest first · 20 of 20 matched
| ๐ฐ๐ต North Korea · Navy | NATO code |
Equivalent in
|
|---|---|---|
| Officers | ||
๋์ฅ Daejang
|
OF-9 General |
Admiral
|
์์ฅ Sangjang
|
OF-8 Lieutenant General |
Vice admiral
|
์ค์ฅ Chungjang
|
OF-7 Major General |
Rear admiral
|
์์ฅ Sojang
|
OF-6 Brigadier General |
Rear admiral (lower half)
|
๋์ข Daechwa
|
OF-5 Colonel |
Captain
|
์์ข Sangjwa
|
OF-5 Colonel |
Captain
|
์ค์ข Chungjwa
|
OF-4 Lieutenant Colonel |
Commander
|
์์ข Sojwa
|
OF-3 Major / Commandant |
Lieutenant commander
|
๋์ Taewi
|
OF-2 Captain / 1st Lieutenant |
Lieutenant
|
์์ Sangwi
|
OF-1 Lieutenant |
Lieutenant (junior grade)
Ensign
|
์ค์ Chungwi
|
OF-1 Lieutenant |
Lieutenant (junior grade)
Ensign
|
์์ Sowi
|
OF-1 Lieutenant |
Lieutenant (junior grade)
Ensign
|
| Enlisted ranks | ||
ํน๋ฌด์์ฌ T'ลญkmu-sangsa
|
OR-8 1st Sergeant |
Command senior chief petty officer
Senior chief petty officer
|
์์ฌ Sangsa
|
OR-7 Sergeant 1st Class |
Chief petty officer
|
์ค์ฌ Chungsa
|
OR-6 Staff Sergeant |
Petty officer first class
|
ํ์ฌ Hasa
|
OR-5 Sergeant |
Petty officer second class
|
์๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Sanggลญp-pyลngsa
|
OR-4 Corporal |
Petty officer third class
|
์ค๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Chungลญp-pyลngsa
|
OR-3 Private 1st Class |
Seaman
|
ํ๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Hagลญp-pyลngsa
|
OR-2 Private |
Seaman apprentice
|
์ ์ฌ Chลnsa
|
OR-1 Private | Seaman recruit |
Air Force
Rank Ladder
Highest first · 20 of 20 matched
| ๐ฐ๐ต North Korea · Air Force | NATO code |
Equivalent in
|
|---|---|---|
| Officers | ||
๋์ฅ Daejang
|
OF-9 General |
General
|
์์ฅ Sangjang
|
OF-8 Lieutenant General |
Lieutenant general
|
์ค์ฅ Chungjang
|
OF-7 Major General |
Major general
|
์์ฅ Sojang
|
OF-6 Brigadier General |
Brigadier general
|
๋์ข Daechwa
|
OF-5 Colonel |
Colonel
|
์์ข Sangjwa
|
OF-5 Colonel |
Colonel
|
์ค์ข Chungjwa
|
OF-4 Lieutenant Colonel |
Lieutenant colonel
|
์์ข Sojwa
|
OF-3 Major / Commandant |
Major
|
๋์ Taewi
|
OF-2 Captain / 1st Lieutenant |
Captain
|
์์ Sangwi
|
OF-1 Lieutenant |
First lieutenant
Second lieutenant
|
์ค์ Chungwi
|
OF-1 Lieutenant |
First lieutenant
Second lieutenant
|
์์ Sowi
|
OF-1 Lieutenant |
First lieutenant
Second lieutenant
|
| Enlisted ranks | ||
ํน๋ฌด์์ฌ T'ลญkmu-sangsa
|
OR-8 1st Sergeant |
First sergeant
Senior master sergeant
|
์์ฌ Sangsa
|
OR-7 Sergeant 1st Class |
First sergeant
Master sergeant
|
์ค์ฌ Chungsa
|
OR-6 Staff Sergeant |
Technical sergeant
|
ํ์ฌ Hasa
|
OR-5 Sergeant |
Staff sergeant
|
์๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Sanggลญp-pyลngsa
|
OR-4 Corporal |
Senior airman
|
์ค๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Chungลญp-pyลngsa
|
OR-3 Private 1st Class |
Airman first class
|
ํ๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Hagลญp-pyลngsa
|
OR-2 Private |
Airman
|
์ ์ฌ Chลnsa
|
OR-1 Private | Airman basic |
Overview
The armed forces of North Korea, officially known as the "Korean People's Army" (KPA), are under the control of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. The KPA is one of the largest standing militaries in the world and consists of several branches, each with specific roles:
- Ground Force: The Korean People's Army Ground Force is responsible for land-based military operations. It includes infantry, armored units, artillery, and support units. The ground force is the largest component of the KPA and plays a central role in national defense.
- Navy: The Korean People's Army Navy focuses on maritime defense and security, operating various vessels, including submarines, surface ships, and patrol boats, primarily in the waters surrounding the Korean Peninsula.
- Air Force: The Korean People's Army Air Force is responsible for aerial defense and operations, with fighter aircraft, transport planes, helicopters, and air defense systems ensuring air superiority and national defense.
- Strategic Rocket Forces: This branch is responsible for North Korea's missile forces, including long-range ballistic missiles. These missiles are a significant concern for regional and global security.
North Korea Military
Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) and other open sources.
Insignia image credits
- Skjoldbro — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons: ๋์์ Tae wonsu, ๊ณตํ๊ตญ์์ Konghwaguk Wonsu, ์ธ๋ฏผ๊ตฐ์์ Inmingun-wonsu, ์ฐจ์ Chasu, ๋์ฅ Daejang (Army), ์์ฅ Sangjang (Army), ์ค์ฅ Chungjang (Army), ์์ฅ Sojang (Army), ๋์ข Daechwa (Army), ์์ข Sangjwa (Army), ์ค์ข Chungjwa (Army), ์์ข Sojwa (Army), ๋์ Taewi (Army), ์์ Sangwi (Army), ์ค์ Chungwi (Army), ์์ Sowi (Army), ๋์ฅ Daejang (Navy), ์์ฅ Sangjang (Navy), ์ค์ฅ Chungjang (Navy), ์์ฅ Sojang (Navy), ๋์ข Daechwa (Navy), ์์ข Sangjwa (Navy), ์ค์ข Chungjwa (Navy), ์์ข Sojwa (Navy), ๋์ Taewi (Navy), ์์ Sangwi (Navy), ์ค์ Chungwi (Navy), ์์ Sowi (Navy), ๋์ฅ Daejang (Air Force), ์์ฅ Sangjang (Air Force), ์ค์ฅ Chungjang (Air Force), ์์ฅ Sojang (Air Force), ๋์ข Daechwa (Air Force), ์์ข Sangjwa (Air Force), ์ค์ข Chungjwa (Air Force), ์์ข Sojwa (Air Force), ๋์ Taewi (Air Force), ์์ Sangwi (Air Force), ์ค์ Chungwi (Air Force), ์์ Sowi (Air Force)
- Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: ํน๋ฌด์์ฌ T'ลญkmu-sangsa (Navy), ์์ฌ Sangsa (Navy), ์ค์ฌ Chungsa (Navy), ํ์ฌ Hasa (Navy), ์๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Sanggลญp-pyลngsa (Navy), ์ค๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Chungลญp-pyลngsa (Navy), ํ๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Hagลญp-pyลngsa (Navy), ์ ์ฌ Chลnsa (Navy), ํน๋ฌด์์ฌ T'ลญkmu-sangsa (Air Force), ์์ฌ Sangsa (Air Force), ์ค์ฌ Chungsa (Air Force), ํ์ฌ Hasa (Air Force), ์๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Sanggลญp-pyลngsa (Air Force), ์ค๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Chungลญp-pyลngsa (Air Force), ํ๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Hagลญp-pyลngsa (Air Force), ์ ์ฌ Chลnsa (Air Force)
- Source work: Blackcloud11 Derivative work: CdnMCG — CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons: ํน๋ฌด์์ฌ T'ลญkmu-sangsa, ์์ฌ Sangsa, ์ค์ฌ Chungsa, ํ์ฌ Hasa, ์๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Sanggลญp-pyลngsa, ์ค๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Chungลญp-pyลngsa, ํ๊ธ๋ณ์ฌ Hagลญp-pyลngsa, ์ ์ฌ Chลnsa