Weapons Supplied to the DPRK

[<AMPSOne@aol.com>]

In the 13 October 2000 issue of "Krasnaya Zvezda", there is a commemorative 
section on the Korean war which includes a number of respondents. One of 
them. Major General Yuriy Kirshin, Vice President of the Academy of Military 
Science, quotes the fact that the following amounts of weaponry were provided 
to Kim Il Song's forces prior to September 1950:

270,000 rifles
1,600 mortars
1,900 cannon (45mm and up)
232 howitzers
430 tanks (T-34-85)
318 SP guns (SU-76M)
370 aircraft
8,000 radio sets

The numbers seem way too high to me -- they look to be the numbers for the 
entire war rather than just the pre-war stuff. I have heard lower numbers for 
the tanks, SPs and guns, and the most accurate cite for aircraft from 
Soviet/Russian souces was 232 -- two regiments of Yak-9, two regiments of 
Il-10 (total of 172 combat aircraft) and 60 assorted trainers and liaison 
aircraft. I know they got three divisions of MiG-15s (around 125 aircraft) 
but they appear to never have flown operational missions at the specific 
orders of Kim Il Song.

Anyone have any other numbers for comparison with this list?

Cookie Sewell
AMPS