Here is a "Full" United States Intelligence Report on the Land Forces of the DPRK dating from September 1950, a time when the DPRK had all of the Korean Peninsula except Pusan under their control.
This may well be the best contemporary report of DPRK forces that is currently available to us but it is very sketchy at best. This report is now unclassified and in the public domain and is quite an interesting historical read.
It was around this time that many of the DPRK forces were awarded "Guards" status but I have yet found a solid reference of what "Guards" units there have been, there are just some fleeting references here and there and "possible suggestions" as well as numbers found engraved in DPRK Guards Badges.
Here are run downs of the 1st 2nd and 3rd Divisions.
Commander "Sojang" Choi Kwang of the 1st Division was born in 1919 and died in 1997. Chief of the General Staff. Minister of the People's Armed Forces from 1995 until his death.
Here are the 4th 5th and 6th Divisions. "Hero Of The DPRK" Lee Kwon Mu of the 4th Division was born in 1914 (date of death uncertain). A former member of the Chinese Eight Route Army and commander of the Red Army and attended a Soviet military academy. The 4th Division was a guards unit by 1st September 1950. Lee lost favour with the regime in 1959.
Here are the 15th Division 105th Tank "Division" and other units. "Hero Of DPRK" Pak Sun Chul of the 15th Division (1913-2008) later became Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1970 and then "Premier" of the DPRK (1976-1977).
