The Imperial Korean Armed Forces () was the military of the Korean Empire, it was ended in 1910, when the Imperial Japanese Army annexed the Korean Empire and occupied the territories of Korea.
History
Foundation Succeeding the Joseon Army and Navy, the Gwangmu Reform reorganized the military into a modern western-style military. The foundation of the Imperial Korean Army started when Inoue Kaoru argued that the King should modernize the military and the commanding system in 1895. Korea established many military academies in Korea. Gojong of Korea tried to install his guards, but because of the interruptions of Japan, it was hard to use the Capital Guards (Siwidae,(시위대), (侍衛隊)) as his palace guards. But when the Japanese were being interrupted by other European countries, the Siwidae was formed as Gojong's guards. The minister of the military supervises the training of the Siwidae. However, the Siwidae was disbanded in August of that year for failing to stop the Japanese from assassinating Empress Myeongseong.
Russian instructors Following Min Young-hwan's journey to Russia, he brought 14 Russian military instructors led by Dmitry Putyata in October 1896. Minister of Military Yi Yun-yong requested training 2,200 men to be trained by these instructors. Russian instructors picked 800 men and specially trained these men. By February 1897, Chinwidae was expanded to 1,080 men so that Gojong's return to his palace would be easier.
Era of Gwangmu Reform After proclaiming the empire, Gojong consolidated his absolute control over military by the establishment of Board of Marshals. By the time Gojong established the Board of Marshals, military of Korean Empire was fragmented. Even the Bobusangs, who used to work for the emperor were trying to build their own army. He thought that such fragmentation of military would be an impediment when coping the imminent crisis caused by the conflict of Russia and Japan. Many of the authorities of Ministry of Military was taken by the Boards of Marshals as a result.
As a way to increase and maintain the Imperial authority, the Imperial government decided to expand Siwidae, stationed at Seoul. On 27 May 1898, the two battalions of Siwidae were integrated to one regiment, and Lieutenant Colonel Cho Tong-yun was appointed as the commander of the 1st Siwi Regiment. In July, an artillery battalion armed with modern cannons was formed as an independent company. Starting from August 1899, the Imperial government recognized the need to expand Siwidae even further so that the Siwi regiment would be a proper combat unit. Cavalry battalion consisting of 408 men was formed. Moreover in December 1900, the artillery company was expanded to battalion and was subordinated to the regiment. With the expansion of artillery, one platoon of military band was established. Siwidae was even further expanded in February 1902, as one more Siwi Regiment was established. By this time, Siwidae totaled about 3,000 men.
Under Japanese Pressure At the dawn of the Russo-Japanese War, Japanese forcefully signed the Japan–Korea Treaty of February 1904 and made supply in Korea much easier. They not only stationed Japanese Korean Army in Yongsan, but also established a military base in Dokdo. In May 1904, Japanese declared official deployment of their army in Korea and started to minimize the Korean army. They stated that using 43 percent of the total tax expenditure in the army was extravagant, stating that Japanese forces will be the proxy for the Imperial Korean Army as armed force.
As the Japanese victory seemed apparent, Japanese confiscated most of the rights of the Board of Marshals, and even disbanded the organization in late 1904, weakening the authority of the emperor. Other than the dissolvement Board of Marshals, the Gungichang was disestablished, and Ministry of Military went through further reduction.
Dissolution and Resistance
Dissolution After Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the Japanese forced the Korean ministers to sign the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905. As per the treaty, the Korean government disbanded the Navy and reduced the numbers of the Imperial Army's City Guards and the Garrison Guards. The total number of Garrison Guards was less than 3,000. Their ships, such as the Guangjae, transported coal from 1941 until Korea's independence from Japan. The army disbanded on August 1, 1907, as per the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907. From midnight, it rained in Seoul. There was an order to gather in Namdaemun. In Namdaemun, Major Park Seung-hwan committed suicide out of guilt for not protecting the country. His death incited the Korean Army to loot their armories, that was confiscated by the Japanese earlier, and fight against the Japanese army, beginning the Battle of Namdaemun. Still, the Japanese anticipated this and suppressed them after nearly four hours of fighting. 13 officers and 57 enlisted were killed as a result of the battle. On August 30, 1907, many officers were removed from their position.
Emperor Sunjong's incorporated the remaining soldiers into the Imperial Retinue Guard, which continued even after the annexation in 1910. After disbanding the central army in 1907, the provincial armies gradually separated. As a result, the provincial soldiers joined the Righteous Armies before the disbandment. The Military Academy was minimized in size that number of new cadets became 15. The academy was finally disbanded in September 1909. Remaining cadets were sent to Imperial Japanese Army Academy. After the dissolution, some cadets who studied abroad returned Korea and served under tight Japanese intervention and served under the Joseon Infantry Division, while some led the independence movement.
Resistance Against the Japanese Occupation Despite many modern theories and the presence of the Joseon Infantry Division leads to a hasty generalization that most of the troops and officers had simply accepted the disbandment with grace, historical evidences do say otherwise. Although some fraction of the army did indeed join the Imperial Japanese Army, the Kempeitai, and the Police, the majority of the Armed Forces had already began rebelling starting from the Battle of Namdaemun.
The remnants of the Imperial Army, now merged with other civilians in the Righteous armies or in some rare cases composed mostly of former Army personnel, were shown to be different than the regular civilian-composed forces. The IJA seems to have been frequently met with consistent amount of Volley fire, Skirmish lines, Encirclement, and Bayonet charges whilst trying to kill or apprehend them, initially mistaking them for civilian Ui-byeongs. In Jecheon, Japanese troops had to withdraw chaotically, leaving all of their critically injured or dead men behind just to survive a skirmish from a IKAF Remnant unit led by an Imperial Army officer. This unit, like many uibyeongs down south, was barely suppressed only after the aforementioned unit arrived two years later, now with an entire Expeditionary force consisting of a brigade level force of 2,260 IJA troops(two regiments from mainland Japan), Kempeitai, Local Police, and a total 100,000 pro Japanese Militiamen of the Iljinhoe. Simultaneously, despite being disbanded, those of the Capital Guard or Jinwidae units stationed near Seoul and Gyunggi resisted the dissolution were possibly still active as in one record, in Suwon station in august 15th, 1907 dozens of black uniform clad troops came and shot at IJA personnel, which would've been impossible if all of them accepted dissolution.
While many enlisted and lower ranking officers did join the Righteous armies, the fate of higher ranking officers, especially generals differ by individual generals and colonels themselves. While quite a few generals like Prince Imperial Yi(Lieutenant General), Yi Tojae(Also Lieutenant General), Han Kyusŏl(Prime Minister and also Lieutenant General), Yi Yong-ik(Lieutenant General), Min Yŏnghwan(Lieutenant General), Sim Sang-Hun(Lieutenant General), and such had actively participated and many field grade officers and such had done so, but many of the other Generals in the IKAF, like Yi Jong-geon did surrender their dignity and ultimately accepted the annexation.
Organization The military system of the Korean Empire consisted of imperial guards, central troops, and provincial troops. It consisted of infantry, artillery, machine gunners, and cavalry. Unlike in the Joseon Dynasty, service was voluntary.Military System of the Great Han Empire (Daehanjeguk), War Memorial of Korea
Ministry of Military In 1895, the government established the Ministry of Military as part of the Gabo Reform. The job of the ministry was to control the military government and supervise military forces and bases. The first Minister of Military was Cho Hui-yon.
Board of Marshals By Gojong's intention to enhance the authority of the emperor, he commissioned himself as the Grand Field Marshal and became the supreme commander of army and navy in June 1898. Next year, Gojong established Board of Marshals in his palace, while weakening the authority of the Ministry of Military.
Training
The Imperial Korean Army had 44 barracks, formally training in marksmanship and drills.Military Training of Siwidae (Royal Guards) in Taehan Empire, War Memorial of Korea Foreign military officers like the Russians volunteered to train the soldiers. Aside from the military academies, there was also the need to educate new officers. In 1896, the military established the Yeonmugongwon (연무공원,鍊武公院), the Military Academy of the Korean Empire, with an officer training program to begin making the Imperial Korean Army more on par with that of the Chinese and Japanese.
The purpose of the training was to make troops more useful on the battlefield. Officers higher than company leaders were responsible for enlisted men and officers' training. Also, training was done in many environments and in many different ways to make the troops more suitable for war.
Military Academy of the Korean Empire
On 1 July 1898, the Military Academy of the Korean Empire was established and subordinated to the Ministry of Military. Then on 22 June 1899, the academy became subordinated to the Board of Marshals as an effort of Gojong solidifying the military of Korea. The staff consisted of one major as the principal, one adjutant, one surgeon, one head instructor, three instructors, and eight assistants. Mostly, principal was selected from military officers, who were educated abroad. Cadets were healthy and wise 20–30 years old, who got a recommendation from an officer. 495 cadets were commissioned as officer after their graduation. 291 out of 495 commissioned cadets were deployed in Jinwidae or Siwidae. Even though the academy was an academy for education of nationalist officers, not all of the graduates were Nationalists. This was because some sons of Yangbans saw entering the academy as a way for an assured career. Despite not every cadet was motivated by their nationalist sentiment, many graduates of the academy joined the Righteous army, and opposed Japanese colonization.
Imperial Korean Army
In 1897, the Imperial Korean Army comprised the central army and the provincial armies. It was as part of strengthening the Korean Empire's National Defense. The central army's backbone is the Imperial Guard consisting of the Attendant (Chinwidae, (친위대), (親衛隊)), and Retinue (Howidae, (호위대)), (扈衛隊)) Guards, and the Capital Guard. The central army was directly under the Board of Marshal's member, Marshal Jung Ae-Kun to defend the emperor and the capital city of Hanyang. The provincial armies (Jibangdae, (지방대), (地方隊)) and the garrison guards (Jinwidae, (진위대), (鎭衛隊)) defend the borders. With the central and provincial armies, the army grew immensely to 28,000 before 1907.