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Formation of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces and Their Historical Implications

Gong Soo Lee 1

1국가기록원

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ABSTRACT

After the Liberation, the nationalists in the country and abroad developed the anti-Japanese guerrilla struggles and the new nation’s movement for the build-up of Korean national forces. Moreover, they tried to unify diverse domestic military units folloing the turmoil of trusteeship issue in August 1945. However, United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) did not recognize Korean military units from the beginning. As USAMGIK declared that USAMGIK was the only government in South Korea, USAMGIK acknowledged that the Constabulary force created by USAMGIK was the only military units, and dissolved all the Korean military organizations in the country and abroad. In the process, USAMGIK labeled the Korean Independence Army and all the spontaneous domestic military groups as the illegal private military organizations. Thereby, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces succeeded the Constabulary forces created by USAMGIK. Although the members of the Constabulary force mainly had the background of Japanese army and Manjugun, a good percentage of people who had the background of the Korean Independence Army and the domestic military units were included in it such as Korean National Preparatory Army, Hagbyeong Dongmaeng, and the domestic detached force of the Korean Independence Army that spontaneously developed the movement for the build-up of Korean national army after the Liberation. The reason they participated in the Constabulary force is not clear, but it is not unrelated to the impartial awareness in the then military units of South Korea. They participated in the Constabulary forces and the Republic of Korea Armed Forces as well as the Korean Independence Army and Korean National Preparatory Army in order to build up the nation’s force, national force, not a specific political group’s force. This is the great importance to those who attempt to find the historical implications of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. The Republic of Korea Armed Forces are rooted in the Constabulary forces because the Constabulary forces is connected with the Republic of Korea Armed Forces in terms of its members and organizational background. As the early organization of the Constabulary forces included the Korean Independence Army and all the spontaneous domestic military organizations as well as those who had the background of Japanese army and Manjugun, no wonder we attempt to find the historical origin of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces in the Korean Independence Army during Japanese colonialism and the domestic groups that developed the movement for the build-up of Korean national army after the Liberation. Administrative control of the country was actually transferred from USAMGIK to South Korean government in 1948, but as the Constitution of the Republic of Korea defines that the Constitution succeeds the legitimacy of Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, it is proper that the Republic of Korea Armed Forces finds its spiritual and historical origin in the movement for the build-up of Korean national army after the Liberation and, by extension, in anti-Japanese military groups and the Korean Independence Army in Machuria during Japanese colonialism, though the Republic of Korea Armed Forces are physically associated with the Constabulary forces. At the very least, finding the Republic of Korea Armed Forces’ origin in the Korean Independence Army of Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea is an interpretation faithful to the Constitution of the Republic of Korea. Only if we do that, we can hypothetically overcome the problems and limitations in the formation of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. Only then can the Republic of Korea Armed Forces stand as South Koreans’ army and national armed forces for our nation.

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