North Korean Collection Capabilities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

North Korean Collection Capabilities - Essay Example Special operations are North Korea’s powerful tool. Being one of the world’s largest units of its kind, special operations amount to between 60,000 and 100,000 persons. 3 Moreover, forces are organized into agent operations, reconnaissance, and light infantry and sniper.4 To achieve success in distracting an enemy during a conflict, at least one special operations force is allocated to every regular army corp. 5Almost 12,000 and 6,000 persons can be lifted and deployed at once by sea and air respectively. 6 Under the 2009 reforms only structures changed: special operations became a part of RGB, as did all its parts. Previous institutional deficiencies have been improving. The Reconnaissance Bureau (REBU) was in 2009 merged into the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB). 7 This office was created after the Korean Worker’s Party’s Operations Bureau and Office No. 35 with the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces’ Reconnaissance Bureau were combined. 8 RGB is composed of: operations, reconnaissance, foreign intelligence, inter-Korean dialogue, rear services and technical matters. 9 It is expected that operations and reconnaissance will merge, thus further improve efficiency of RGB in terms of coordination and access to resources. 10 RGB has become self sustainable. This department has engaged in illegal activities through trading companies, which have brought profits to the North Korean regime.11This department can withstand international embargos on North Korea and serve at any time as a source of funding to agents located domestically and abroad. Whereas operations are in charge of training, REBU is in charge of implementation. REBU is in charge of gathering â€Å"strategic, operational, and tactical intelligence.†12 REBU infiltrates its intelligence personnel into South Korea through tunnels under the demilitarized zone as well as through seaborne insertion. 13 South Korea located four such tunnels by 1990.14 It