This study intends to analyze the role of the Korean National Police in the process of South Korean politics during American military occupation. It stresses that the police was not a mere instrument of the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) to uphold order and stability, but functioned as an active participant in the creation of a rightist regime in southern Korea. The police had an inherent weakness as a collaborationist organization and forged inseparable ties with the USAMGIK and the Syngman Rhee-Korean Democratic Party coalition. The police were the undisputed “vanguard” of the rightist coalition. The powerful police also functioned as the “big brother” of the rightist youth organizations which shared values and ideology with them. The police led the rightist youth corps, affiliated with the Rhee-KDP forces, in suppressing the rivals of the political coalition, thus paving the way for Rhee's rightist regime. Finally, taking advantage of their enormous, unrivaled power, the polcie served as the “midwife” in the creation of the Rhee regime in the Republic of Korea. Although the USAMGIK essentially regarded the police as a reliable instrument of order and stability, the Korean National Police was an important political actor actively taking part in the political process during U.S. military occupation. The police, which staked their survival on the establishment of a rightist regime, played a decisive role in the creation of the Syngman Rhee government in August 1948.

This study intends to analyze the role of the Korean National Police in the process of South Korean politics during American military occupation. It stresses that the police was not a mere instrument of the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) to uphold order and stability, but functioned as an active participant in the creation of a rightist regime in southern Korea. The police had an inherent weakness as a collaborationist organization and forged inseparable ties with the USAMGIK and the Syngman Rhee-Korean Democratic Party coalition. The police were the undisputed “vanguard” of the rightist coalition. The powerful police also functioned as the “big brother” of the rightist youth organizations which shared values and ideology with them. The police led the rightist youth corps, affiliated with the Rhee-KDP forces, in suppressing the rivals of the political coalition, thus paving the way for Rhee's rightist regime. Finally, taking advantage of their enormous, unrivaled power, the polcie served as the “midwife” in the creation of the Rhee regime in the Republic of Korea. Although the USAMGIK essentially regarded the police as a reliable instrument of order and stability, the Korean National Police was an important political actor actively taking part in the political process during U.S. military occupation. The police, which staked their survival on the establishment of a rightist regime, played a decisive role in the creation of the Syngman Rhee government in August 1948.

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Korean National Police, United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK), October People’s Resistance, Syngman Rhee, Chang T’aek-sang, Cho Pyong-ok, youth corps, John R. Hodge, Korean Democratic Party