Badge "Korean People's Army Paratrooper".

[CtahhR]

Here is the "Korean People's Army Paratrooper" Badge (조선인민군항공륙전병휘장). A badge that is VERY commonplace on the market although over coveted by those who covet. The Badge is very heavily influenced by Soviet Parachutist qualification badges and due to the small amount of actual airborne forces in the DPRK, the large number of Badges on the market and usual "unworn" condition of the badges hitting the market it is probably more than fair to deduce that these particular badges are redundant and surplus to desire. The Badges are constructed from plated copper. I have never heard of a picture of one of these Badges being worn on any type of uniform which leads me to believe that this "award" badge may have been a project that was cancelled before initiation. However this is a nice starter piece for collectors that have a main interest lying in Airborne forces. DO NOT pay more than $8 for this badge unless you have money to waste.

[CtahhR]

Here is another example. The picture doesn't do the enamel justice. I had a third example that was the same but gave it away.

Thanks for posting - those are very minty looking badges. I've seen some that look like they've been run over by a truck.

[CtahhR]

Some DPRK items on the market are in very poor conditions. Often the damage done to them is deliberate.

Pictures of DPRK Paratroops are very difficult to find but here is a poor picture of 4 of them jumping.

The plane they are jumping from is a propeller driven Shijiazhuang Y-5 of the 586th Combined Company.

[achern]

Do you know if the DPRK has an instructor para badge, or is it all one class?

[CtahhR]

I've never seen anything other that this. Unlike Soviet examples it gives no indication of status nor number of jumps.

[achern]

This was the first of dozens of badges sold by a Chinese dealer on ebay. It sold for USD455.00.

[CtahhR]

$455 is truly outrageous! Someone certainly wasn't buying for investment!

Knock off some digits and $4 is what I paid for one of those two I presented (the other was $1).

As a gauge, for under $455 I have obtained both a http://soviet-awards.com/forum/sovie...tml#post163407 (Type 1 Variation 1) and an Order Of Kim Il-Sung (Type 2) with enough left over for two Soviet produced Orders Of The National Flag 3rd Class and the two pictured Paratrooper Badges above.

[achern]

$4 is a very reasonable price for these wings. I wonder how many of these badges were made, and how they are sold to the Chinese dealers to fetch such a low price.

The quality of the plating is quite bad - it's no more than a thin skin which strips off very easily to reveal the copper underneath. A lot of the badges look like they've been soaked in acid.

I'm surprised DPRK would go to the trouble of commissioning such a lot of para badges with enameling and then decide not to use them at all.

I wonder if there are any prototype instructor badges in existence.