The Board of Marshals (원수부,元帥府) was the ministry which managed over all the military of the

Korean Empire The Korean Empire () was a Korean monarchical state proclaimed in October 1897 by Emperor Gojong of the Joseon dynasty. The empire stood until Japan's annexation of Korea in August 1910. During the Korean Empire, Emperor Gojong oversaw the Gwa ...

. This was for centralizing power towards the then-emperor,

Gojong of the Korean Empire Gojong (; 8 September 1852 – 21 January 1919) was the monarch of Korea from 1864 to 1907. He reigned as the last King of Joseon from 1864 to 1897, and as the first Emperor of Korea from 1897 until his forced abdication in 1907. He is known ...

. Gojong established it to have the supreme command of the army. After the establishment of the board, the power of the military authorities was handed to the Emperor. Two regiments' of both the Imperial Guards and the City Guards were organized to guard the capital city, Hanyang (한성,漢城). The Board then commissioned

Military Police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...

Military Engineers Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics be ...

, and a

Military Band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the tit ...

. The total number of the modernized army grew to a significant number of 28,000 just before the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. After the Japanese won, the Japanese disbanded the ministry to reduce and later remove all military power from the Emperor.

Organization

The Board of Marshals was consists of four organizations. Followings are the organizations and their roles: # Military Affairs Section: Responsible for preparing battles # Prosecuting Section: Responsible for punishing the personnels # Recording Section: Responsible for recording # Accounting Section: Responsible for managing budget

References

*The Military History of Korea. Seoul: HQ of the Army of R.O.Korea, 1977. Print. Military history of Korea Korean Empire {{Korea-hist-stub