North Koreans are drafted at the age of 17, though those bright enough to go to university join later and have to undergo six months in a military training camp, since they are more likely to be officer material.
Though few outside this most secretive of nations are aware of it, more than ten per cent of the army is made up of women — indeed some reports from defectors suggest the figure could be as high as 40 per cent.
But the life that awaits these women can be brutal.
The same exiles also report that because units have to be moved constantly so that the troops do not consume the limited food available in any one area, sexually transmitted diseases are rampant in the army as a result of late-night couplings on buses and trains.
The military day begins at 5am and does not end until 10pm.
Description "Taek" and "Kyon", children of the two Masters who founded the school of martial arts "Taek-kyon", must keep the school manual away from the hands of the Japanese occupiers early 20th century and entrust it to Priest "Jiham" according to the will of their fathers.