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Pyongyang adding special forces units, military source says

North Korea has reinforced its special forces in recent months, bolstering its capability to stage guerrilla-style attacks, a military source said yesterday.

"The North has launched several more units of special-warfare forces affiliated with its divisions on the front line and in the rear as well," the South Korean source said on condition of anonymity. "It intends to boost its capability in irregular guerrilla warfare."

Each new unit has some 5,000 to 6,000 elite troops, he said, adding that they supplement existing special warfare units.

South Korean military commanders recently discussed the new units and were closely watching them, the source said.

South Korea's defense white paper says the North maintains a total of 120,000 well-trained commandos with expertise in special warfare. Their mission is to penetrate enemy areas quickly in case of war.

North and South Korea remain technically at war after the 1950 to 1953 Korean War ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty.

Some 28,000 US troops support South Korea's 680,000 soldiers against any threat from the North's military, which is reported to have 1.1 million members.

Tensions have eased since a 2000 inter-Korean peace summit, which triggered various rapprochement initiatives, and a multinational pact for the North to scrap its nuclear programs.

At a second summit in October the two sides agreed to ease tensions and guarantee peace on the peninsula.
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