The VI Corps was a corps of the

North Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) is the military force of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Under the ''Songun'' policy, it is the central institution of North Korean society. Currently, WPK General Sec ...

. It took part in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

and was one of the units withdrawn to China in Autumn 1950 for training and reorganisation. It returned to Korea in 1951, as one of only three full strength corps in the North Korean Army. It was inactivated towards the end of the war but was reactivated some time afterwards. By the 1990s the corps was stationed in North Hamgyong Province, on the border with China. It is alleged that senior leaders in the corps were planning a coup against the North Korean government during the 1994-98 famine. The government is said to have detected the coup and moved to arrest and execute many of its leaders. The VI Corps was later dismantled and some of its troops incorporated into the

IX Corps 9 Corps, 9th Corps, Ninth Corps, or IX Corps may refer to: France * 9th Army Corps (France) * IX Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars Germany * IX Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial Germ ...

Korean War

The VI Corps fought in the

and was one of the units withdrawn to Chinese Manchuria in autumn 1950, ahead of the

UN offensive into North Korea The UN offensive into North Korea was a large-scale offensive in late 1950 by United Nations (UN) forces against North Korean forces. On 27 September near Osan UN forces coming from Inchon linked up with UN forces that had broken out of the Pusa ...

. After reorganisation and retraining the VI Corps returned to northern Korea in January 1951. The corps, consisting of the

18th 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

19th 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

and 36th infantry divisions travelled south, avoiding the main Route 1 and using minor roads to avoid detection by United Nations forces. The corps, at this time under the command of Lieutenant-General Choe Yong Jin was in position north-west of Seoul by mid-February. The presence of the corps was detected by the

Eighth United States Army The Eighth Army is a U.S. field army which is the commanding formation of all United States Army forces in South Korea. It commands U.S. and South Korean units and is headquartered at the Camp Humphreys,VII and

VIII Corps 8th Corps, Eighth Corps, or VIII Corps may refer to: * VIII Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars * VIII Army Corps (German Confederation) * VIII Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Ar ...

, which had accompanied the VI Corps southwards. On 16 May 1951 the 9th Infantry Division was attached to the corps and held a defensive position at

Yonan Yŏnan County is a county in South Hwanghae Province, North Korea. Administrative divisions Yŏnan county is divided into 1 ''Administrative divisions of North Korea, ŭp'' (town), 1 ''Administrative divisions of North Korea, rodongjagu'' (worker ...

until August when it was moved east to Kosang. The Eighth Army assessed the strength of VI Corps on 1 July 1951 as 35,500 men and thought that it consisted of the 9th, 18th and 23rd infantry divisions as well as the 17th Mechanized Division (the only one of its kind in the North Korean army at this time). The VI Corps was one of only three in the whole North Korean Army at close to full strength in this period. The 18th Division was on coastal defence duty on the east coast until November 1951. VI Corps was inactivated sometime between 1951 and 1953, but was reactivated after the war.

Alleged 1990s coup attempt and disbandment

There are several reports of the corps being involved in a coup attempt in the 1990s; the BBC notes that details are unclear, but some sort of incident is likely to have taken place. North Korea was, at this time, suffering from the withdrawal of Russian funding following the

collapse of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

. This led to a reduction in North Korean industrial exports, and a resultant lack of finance led to the

North Korean famine The North Korean Famine (), also known as the Arduous March or the March of Suffering (), was a period of mass starvation together with a general economic crisis from 1994 to 1998 in North Korea. During this time there was an increase in defec ...

of 1994–98. The death of Kim Il Sung in 1994 and the accession of

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...

led to political instability, which may have been perceived as an opportunity by plotters. The VI Corps was stationed at

Chongjin Chŏngjin (; ) is the capital of North Korea's North Hamgyong Province (함경북도) and the country's third largest city. It is sometimes called the ''City of Iron''. History Prehistory According to archaeological findings near the lower ...

, North Hamgyong Province as a rear echelon infantry corps of three infantry divisions, one artillery division and four rocket brigades. The corps was closely involved in monitoring the cross-border trade with China and may have incurred the displeasure of the national government by taking too large a cut of illicit trade. North Korea analysts Victor Cha and Nicholas Anderson state that the leadership of the VI Corps was angered by a decision from the national government not to send food to the Hamgyong provinces. Writer Kim So Yeol states that the corps' political committees, battalion commanders were involved in planning the coup, and civilian administrators in the province were also implicated, including the chief secretary of the province and vice directors of intelligence and social security agencies. The coup allegedly failed after an agreement could not be reached between the corps commander and the senior political and security officers. This is an intentional arrangement of North Korean military formations to prevent individuals holding sole power over their movements. If the coup had proceeded, Cha and Anderson claim the intention was to take over the Chongjin port, a university, communications centre and missile installations, before linking up with the neighbouring VII Corps (which had also been linked to a coup attempt in 1993) and moving to Pyongyang to oppose the government. The coup was discovered before it was carried out and completely dismantled. Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law led a military unit to arrest the corps' leaders, which was carried out after a firefight with the plotters. Kim So Yeol states that 40 were executed and 300 otherwise punished, other reports state that scores of officers were executed by machine gun or being sealed into their headquarters which were then set alight. Former

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

agent Michael Yi says that 400 corps officers and their families were arrested. The VI Corps was subsequently dismantled and its troops incorporated into

, as the state attempted to hide the coup from the public. Sources differ on the timing of the coup and its extent. Armin Rosen of ''Business Insider'' claims it occurred in Spring 1995, Kim So Yeol states it was in 1996 and Andrew Salmon of the ''Daily Telegraph'' gives 1997. Barbara Demick of the ''Los Angeles Times'' states that a coup was unlikely to have taken place, though it is widely believed to have taken place by North Korea citizens.

References

{{Reflist Corps of North Korea Corps of North Korea in the Korean War