Military authorities said on the 31st that they issued a fragmentary order requiring frontline guard operation units to maintain their live-ammunition-loaded status, amid controversy over the Army First Corps' "no live ammunition loaded" guard operation guidelines.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army Ground Operations Command issued the guidelines to frontline corps conducting guard operations at the General Outpost (GOP) and forward Guard Posts (GP).
As a result, the Army First Corps at the center of the controversy is also known to be conducting guard operations with live ammunition again loaded into crew-served weapons such as the K6 heavy machine gun and the K4 automatic grenade launcher.
The First Corps, which oversees the western front, sparked controversy after it emerged that it had changed its guard operation guidelines from the first half of this year so that live ammunition would not be loaded into crew-served weapons such as the K6 heavy machine gun and the K4 automatic grenade launcher during GP and GOP guard operations.
While loading live ammunition is the principle for weapons operation at frontline units, the First Corps reportedly changed its guard operation guidelines at the corps commander's discretion to prevent accidental discharges.
Meanwhile, the Army Ground Operations Command has been inspecting the state of guard operations since the previous day at five frontline corps, including the First Corps as well as the Capital, Second, Third and Fifth Corps.
