Is North Korea Preparing for Presidential Assassinations? Insights from the 525 Unit

North Korean Special Operations Forces
Conducting unrealistic tactical drills
The target of training is the Blue House

North Korea drew attention last year when it showcased the training of its special forces during a military parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army. On the 10th of this month, Kim Jong Un visited the Kim Jong Il Military University and reportedly boosted the military’s morale by stating, “Now is the time when we must be more thorough in our war readiness than ever before.”

The known strength of North Korea’s special forces is about 200,000, making it one of the largest in the world in terms of manpower alone. The training footage of the North Korean special forces was released during a military parade last February to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army.

Despite the winter, they demonstrated martial arts with their bare hands and bodies, conducted training in icy water, and showed the resilience of warriors by breaking steel chains with their bare hands. The most notable unit is the North Korean assassination squad Unit 525, known as the Korean People’s Army Special Operations Force.

Unit 525 is a special force of North Korea, known for its trained level compared to other infantry units and exceptionally high loyalty to the Kim family, the rulers of North Korea. Indeed, Kim Il Sung once stated, “I would not exchange even one of them for an entire division,” underscoring the extent of their training and loyalty.

This unit, which would be the primary target for the South Korean military in the event of a Korean War, was first revealed during a military parade in 2017. While, previously, the special forces that North Korea possessed were not recognized as separate units, after the 2017 parade, it was known that they became independent military units under the name Special Operations Forces.

The special forces of the North Korean military consist of airborne assault troops, sniper regiments, sentries, and scouts. The airborne assault troops are independent airborne brigades that exist to simultaneously create battlefields in the rear and front of South Korea, colloquially known as Ure (thunder). They are known for their high shooting accuracy, physical fitness, and quality of training.

The sniper regiment, known as Byeorak (thunder), differs from regular snipers in the quality of their training and the equipment they receive. They are trained to strike key South Korean military bases and targets by carrying out heavily armed equipment and focusing on high-speed infiltration.

Sentries, also known as Bongae (lightning), aim to quickly infiltrate mountainous and urban areas in the Korean Peninsula with the mobility provided by lightweight equipment. They are trained to increase infiltration speed by lightening individual equipment and performing missions based on foot mobility.

As seen in the training video of the North Korean special forces, the scouts are the units that practice martial arts and strength the most and are trained for the mission of operatives.

In 2016, the People’s Army Unit 525, which had already been introduced in South Korea, prepared for assassination operations by conducting training to strike a model of the Blue House main building. Pictures and videos showed that the North Korean special forces wore camouflage uniforms, bulletproof helmets equipped with night vision goggles, and tactical vests.

They also released footage of them attacking a model of the Blue House after descending from a modified MD 500, similar to the AH-6 Little Bird used by the U.S. special forces. North Korean media directly named Unit 525 as an assassination squad, which seems to be conscious of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU). JSOC and GRU are known as headhunting units and are famous for their formidable military power.

JSOC is known to include the Army’s Delta Force and Intelligence Support Activity (ISA), Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160th SOAR), Navy DEVGRU and Special Boat Service (SBS), the United States Air Force Combat Control Teams Pathfinder, and Marine Corps Special Reconnaissance Battalions. The GRU is also a large intelligence agency, which seems to have been a model for North Korea when it established its reconnaissance general bureau.

Kim Jong Un is also believed to cherish this military unit as Kim Il Sung did. During the Special Forces Strength and Target Strike Competition held in 2017, Unit 525’s direct Special Operations Battalion participated and won first place. And Kim Jong Un personally gifted an automatic rifle and binoculars. Western media evaluated the training video released by North Korea as “bizarre footage of naked soldiers performing acrobatics in front of a delighted Kim Jong Un,” considering it as a level of stunt parade rather than a training video.