More frontline units found operating without live rounds; Defense Ministry to issue institutional warnings

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense has confirmed that multiple military units beyond the Army's 1st Corps conducted frontline guard operations without live rounds loaded in their weapons.

A Defense Ministry official said Monday that inspections found "some units operating some firearms in an unloaded state without revising relevant guidelines or issuing related official documents." The ministry launched inspections of frontline corps in August following the controversy over the 1st Corps' unloaded-weapon guard operations, and the review turned up similar cases at multiple locations.

According to People Power Party lawmaker Kang Seon-yeong of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, unloaded-weapon cases involving both individual and crew-served firearms were found across the 2nd, 3rd and 5th Corps — units responsible for guarding guard posts and general outposts along the front line — in addition to the 1st Corps. The Defense Ministry subsequently decided to issue institutional warnings to the 1st and 2nd Corps, the 22nd Division under the 3rd Corps, and the Army Ground Operations Command, which oversees the frontline corps, for violating the live-round loading principle without following proper procedures.

"Based on the inspection results, we plan to issue institutional warnings and improvement orders to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Ground Operations Command and subordinate corps and divisions," the ministry official said. The Ground Operations Command, which has authority over ammunition-carrying procedures, will receive an institutional warning, while the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be ordered to improve its operational oversight framework.

Amid the controversy, the ministry is not expected to seek disciplinary action against individuals, including 1st Corps Commander Han Gi-seong, who was relieved of duty over the matter. "It is realistically difficult to pinpoint specific individuals because the exact period during which ammunition-carrying procedures were applied differently from guidelines cannot be confirmed, and multiple personnel across units were involved," the ministry official said, adding that institutional warnings were chosen to drive systemic reform instead.

The controversy first emerged in July, when it was reported that the 1st Corps — which oversees the western front — had revised its guard operation guidelines earlier this year to allow crew-served weapons such as the K6 heavy machine gun and the K4 automatic grenade launcher to be operated without live rounds loaded at guard and general outpost positions. It was later revealed that individual firearms had also been carried unloaded.

Keeping firearms loaded with live rounds is the standard operating principle for South Korean forces at frontline positions, including guard posts and general outposts.