Soviet made North Korean Awards

[vacollector]

Did the soviets ever product NK medals? How can you tell the Soviet made versions from NK made versions?

[redline09]

yes the russian made the earily north korean awards in the 50s

they are quite high quality compared the normal north korean awards.

for example the 1950s soviet type , Order of Soldier's Honor is screwback while the standard 60s-80s Order of Soldier's Honor is just pin back.

the enamel quality is pretty basic on the more modern soviet awards as well.


there are some examples of soviet types here (dont worry about the prices, they can be had cheaper on ebay) -
https://www.collectrussia.com/showcat.htm?cat=NKOREAN

[Mathomhaus]

If your inquiry was actually about whether the Soviets ever produced medals rather than orders and higher awards like hero stars for the North Koreans, then the answer is probably no.

While a North Korean-made order can sometimes look quite presentable if it hasn't been subjected to wear (read: held in the recipient's hand for longer than five minutes - the plating on many is unbelievably thin!), virtually all DPRK medals are so cheaply made that it is really hard to believe that a national government actually issued them to its citizens.

Both the Boik and the Sessler/McDaniel books on NK awards clearly identify which of the NK orders were first produced by the Moscow mint. If you do not have access to either book, a way to tell if the badge was possibly made in the USSR is to ask yourself: is it a screw-back, is the enamel beautiful, and is it made of silver? There are a few NK produced orders with screwbacks, but they generally are not made of silver and do not have the Moscow Mint top-of-the-line enamelwork. Plus I think that the Soviets stopped making DPRK awards by the mid 1950s, so any award created after that, whether it has a screw post or not, has to have been made in NK or, in rare situations, socialist countries like Czechoslovakia...

Regards

[vacollector]

Thank you for the information. I have just started getting interested in the Korean War and NK militaria. One thing I have found is the NK stuff is hard to come by.

[redline09]

Thank you for the information. I have just started getting interested in the Korean War and NK militaria. One thing I have found is the NK stuff is hard to come by.

not really, keep your eyes open on ebay. a lot of nice stuff does pop up cheap. (most stuff comes from china )

also, i would recommend signing up to soviet-awards forum & posting a wanted advert on there vBClassified (its free to do so ) - there is some members who could probably help you out.

[vacollector]

Did NK ever award Soviet troops or miltitary adviser any military orders?

[Mathomhaus]

The vast bulk of DPRK awards that have apparently ever gone to foreigners went to the Chinese. If you start scrutinizing portrait photos of very high ranking Soviet officers, however, you will find the occasional NK breast star peering out at you from the middle of the metal forests on their chests. No one can say for certain, but I'm willing to bet that any NK order that has ever shown up on a Soviet General's or Marshal's tunic was the result of a limited awarding by the North Koreans to the members of a visiting Soviet delegation - certainly not given for any act of military valor. Since the presence of Soviet pilots in NK during the war was a very closely guarded secret, I think it's debatable which if any DPRK awards were given to the Soviet fliers. The bottom line is that they certainly couldn't have worn them in public since everyone was sworn to secrecy about their even being in Korea...

There was a NK medal that went to the Soviet soldiers involved in "liberating" Korea from the Japanese in the immediate post-WW2 period, but it wasn't supposed to be a reward for Soviet participation in what we think of as the Korean War. The few times that I've seen that NK medal on a 1940s or 50s Soviet medal bar, it was always being worn along with the Soviet Victory over Japan medal...