Amid controversy over the Army I Corps standing guard with unloaded weapons, it has emerged that the Marine Corps 2nd Division, which is responsible for the western front coastline, also conducted guard operations for the past six years without loading live ammunition into its weapons.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) on the 3rd, the Marine Corps 2nd Division, which handles coastal guard duty from the mouth of the Han River along the western front, has performed guard duty without loading live ammunition for six years since 2020.
The JCS explained that "given the nature of coastal guard duty, there is no need for an immediate response, and it was determined that ammunition need not be loaded out of concern over accidental discharge."
Following the Army I Corps, a similar case has now been confirmed in the Marine Corps. The I Corps sparked controversy after changing its guidelines in the first half of this year so that live ammunition would not be loaded into crew-served weapons during guard operations at the general outpost (GOP) and the forward-most guard post (GP). For frontline units, the principle is to operate weapons loaded with live ammunition, and critics point out that this principle was violated. The Ministry of National Defense removed I Corps Commander Han Ki-seong from his post on the same day.
