Military Police (Republic of Korea)

Republic of Korea Military Police arm band
South Korea military police in Joint Security Area

The Republic of Korea Military Police (MP; in Korean: 헌병, "Heon-byeong"), are the uniformed law enforcement agencies of each respective branch of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. Once operated under a unified Military Police Command (헌병총사령부, "Heon-byeong Chong-sa-ryeong-bu") between 1953 and 1960,[1] the ROK's MP units are now commanded by the Army, Navy and Air Force HQs separately. ROK Army MPs also function as a border guards at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

DMZ Border Guards

All ROK troops guarding and patrolling inside the DMZ are officially MPs, although their equipment is that of elite ROK-army units such as body-armor/combat vests, night-vision equipment, optical sights for the Daewoo K2, etc. The reason why these soldiers are MPs is because the armistice that was signed in 1953 that ended the Korean War requires both sides (the North and the South) to restrict access inside the DMZ to MPs only, which means no vehicles, no squad-served weapons (such as mortars and HMGs) and no regular units of the army.

Equipment

The ROK MP has the following small-arms in their inventory:

References

  1. ↑ "헌병 연혁 [History of the MP]" (in Korean). ROKA Military Police. Archived from the original on 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2016-02-13.

See also

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