There’s a culture of being expected to wear any medals your father or grandfather earned. When you think about the kind of basic medals even western militaries give out, such as good conduct, long service, etc, three generations of those adds up quickly.

The DPRK also just really loves medals. It’s not just limited to the military, they have medals for distinguished service as a factory worker or construction worker. They will even give long service medals to inanimate objects like industrial machinery.