Republic of Korea Marine Corps
amphibious warfare branch of South Korea's military
The Republic of Korea Marine Corps (ROKMC; Korean: 대한민국 해병대; Hanja: 大韓民國 海兵隊; RR: Daehanminguk Haebyeongdae), also known as the ROK Marine Corps, ROK Marines or South Korean marines, is the naval infantry of South Korea. The ROKMC is a branch of the Republic of Korea Navy responsible for amphibious operations, and also functions as a rapid reaction force and a strategic reserve.
The ROKMC was initially founded in 1949 under Imperial Japanese Army military doctrine as a suppression operations force against communist partisans. The ROKMC fought extensively throughout the Korean War and in combat operations during the Vietnam War. In modern times, the ROKMC has been involved in coalition military operations in the Persian Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan.
The ROK Marine Corps, with 29,000 personnel, is organized into two divisions and two separate brigades under the Headquarters ROK Marine Corps. The ROK Marine Corps has about 300 tracked vehicles including assault amphibious vehicles, main battle tanks, and self-propelled artillery.
History
Founding years
On April 15, 1949, the Republic of Korea Marine Corps (ROKMC) was founded at Deoksan airfield in Chinhae with an initial strength of 380 men. Lieutenant Colonel Shin Hyun-joon was appointed to lead as the first Commandant of the newly formed Marine Corps and he was promoted to colonel on July 1, 1949. The ROKMC consisted of 2 rifle companies and a headquarters company equipped with many secondhand weapons from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) used during World War II, including the 7.7 millimeters (0.30 in) Type 99 Light Machine Gun.
The public source identifies “Republic of Korea Marine Corps” as amphibious warfare branch of South Korea's military. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Republic, Korea and Marine.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q487238. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949.
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This entry incorporates text from “Republic of Korea Marine Corps” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.