North Korea has a smaller GDP than many individual Canadian provinces. Yet it is producing more artillery shells than the entirety of the Western world.
It can be difficult to get across the extent to which the Western world has allowed our military capacity to atrophy.
People still see advanced fighter jets in the skies, they still see some new tanks being produced, and they still see recruitment ads every once in a while, so it can be easy to assume that ‘things aren’t really that bad.’
Most people understandably believe – because it indeed used to be true – that we could rapidly ramp up our production basically at a moments notice.
Yet, that is not the case.
The situation is far worse than it appears, and here’s perhaps the clearest example:
North Korea has a total GDP of around $48.3 billion USD, and around $100 billion when measured by purchasing power parity.
Saskatchewan has a total GDP of around $56 billion USD and around $93 billion when measured in PPP.
Take that in for a moment. North Korea’s entire economic output is about equal to that of the Province of Saskatchewan.
Now, consider this:
North Korea is outproducing the entire Western world in terms of ammunition.
In November of 2023, Politico reported that North Korea was providing 1 million artillery shells to Russia, while the entire EU was unable to fulfill their promise to do the same:
“North Korea has delivered more than a million artillery shells to Russia over the last few months, with satellite technology know-how granted in return. That’s according to a South Korean lawmaker briefed by the national intelligence agency, as reported by Al-Jazeera and others. It’s estimated this will keep the Russian army supplied for two months in its war on Ukraine, according to the report.
Well beaten: As a reminder, EU countries have promised to deliver a million rounds to Kyiv by the end of March. That target looks very unlikely it will be met because it’s proving complicated to ramp up production quickly.”
According to DefenseOne, the EU is now able to produce about 400,000 artillery shells per year, slightly ahead of the United States – though the US is ramping up faster:
“By February 2023, European production was at 300,000 rounds annually, according to Estonian defense officials. By November, capacity had risen again, though assessments differ. European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton suggested that Europe could now make some 400,000 rounds annually. Estonia’s Pevkur, speaking at a November media roundtable, put the figure between 600,000 and 700,000—and said it would reach one million rounds in 2024.”
“Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Army produced around 14,000 155mm rounds a month in government-owned, contractor-operated munitions plants. In December 2022, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said the Army was looking to increase production to 20,000 rounds per month by the spring and 40,000 rounds per month by 2025.”
Meanwhile, Canada produces about 3,000 155mm artillery shells per month.
Unfortunately, North Korea alone dwarfs those production figures:
According to a South Korean newspaper, North Korea produces an estimated 2 million 152mm reound per year:
“The expert interviewed by the JoongAng Ilbo said that North Korea “seems to have provided Russia with six months’ worth of production,” based on current South Korean estimates of the North’s annual production capabilities.
“Although exact production figures cannot be determined because the manufacturing process and raw materials vary according to the different types of artillery shells, we estimate that the North can produce around 2 million 152-millimeter shells per year,” he said.”
According to a CNN report based on remarks by the South Korean Defence Minister, North Korea has shipped up to 3 million rounds to Russia since August of 2023 alone:
“Since August, Pyongyang has shipped about 6,700 containers to Russia, which could accommodate more than 3 million rounds of 152 mm artillery shells or more than 500,000 rounds of 122 mm multiple rocket launchers, according to Shin’s ministry.”
In return, North Korea has been receiving food and assistance with satellite programs.
What this means is that THE ENTIRE COLLECTIVE WEST IS LOSING AN ARTILLERY PRODUCTION RACE TO A COUNTRY WITH A GDP EQUIVALENT TO ONE CANADIAN PROVINCE AND WHICH CAN’T EVEN FEED ITSELF.
To say this is disgraceful would be a tremendous understatement.
This is what I mean when I saw the problem the West has is a problem of willpower and commitment.
We have the wealth and technological power to outproduce the New Axis of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.
We simply choose not to.
That’s it.
Years of just hoping for the best, years of assuming everything will magically work out, and years of thinking that appeasment and kind words were all that was needed to dissuade aggression from expansionist dictators like Putin is what has led us to where we are today.
Ukraine is fighting for its life and survival as a nation, and we can’t even produce enough ammunition to match what North Korea is sending to the vicious Putin regime.
And even when we do try our best to help, we see more evidence of our weakness.
For example, the Czech plan to ‘find’ 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine – while certainly important and desperately needed – highlights how weak the West has allowed ourselves to become:
https://twitter.com/colbybadhwar/status/1763571564623069266
It takes weeks and months of going around to every NATO country trying to scrounge up shells to send to Ukraine, while North Korea – A NATION FAR POORER THAN ALMOST EVERY INDIVIDUAL NATO COUNTRY LET ALONE THE ENTIRE NATO ALLIANCE – sends more.
This is unacceptable.
If the Western world wants to survive, and if we want to ensure Ukraine pushes back the Russian invaders, then we need to start taking things seriously.
Our leaders and prospective leaders need to hear from Canadians that this is something they care about. They need to know we want them to take our national defence seriously.
The Liberals – who have been willing to spend massive amounts of money everywhere else – still seem unwilling to invest the relatively measly sum of $400 million to start ramping up production, showing they still aren’t taking this seriously.
And so, I encourage you to contact your MP and call on them to support efforts to ramp up Canada’s artillery shell production.
Even Canada alone should be able to easily provide Ukraine with all the artillery shells it needs and reequip our own forces. Along with our allies, we should be able to massively overwhelming North Korean and Russia production. And while getting to that point won’t happen instantly, there’s no better time to start than now.
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Spencer Fernando
