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GENERAL HEADQUARTERS FAR EAST COMMAND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SECTION, GENERAL STAFF # INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY INTELLIGENCE DATA COVERING THE MILITARY ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL EXCL FIELDS IN: **JAPAN** **KOREA** **PHILIPPINES** **CHINA-MANCHURIA** **SOUTHEAST ASIA** **N. E. I.** GENERAL HEADQUARTERS FAR EAST COMMAND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SECTION, GENERAL STAFF TABLE OF CONTENTS Selected items for the Information of Commanding NO. and Staffs of the Far East Command DATE 2241 22 October 1948 INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS KOREA South Korean Constabularymen initiate revolt at Yosu; spreads to other cities of South Cholla Province; Communists aid disturbances. Assassination attempt on President RHEE fails; police discover dynamite charges. National Assembly passes Government Administration Bill. # KOREA ## Military, Political, Economic, Social Situation, Press Review, Civil Intelligence, Miscellaneous Selected items for the Information of Commanders and Staffs of the Far East Command No. 2241 MILITARY SITUATION 1. Constabulary Revolt: (Refer to Map No. 1a) (a) Initiated at Yosu: Forty enlisted men from a battalion of the 14th Constabulary Regiment of the Korean Republic's Security Forces, scheduled for transfer to Cheju Island, initiated a revolt at Yosu at 0200 hours 20 Oct. Yosu police and local railroad police attempted to quell the disturbance but were unsuccessful when the Constabularymen were reinforced by approximately 450 civilians. The revolt spread when the mutineers commandeered five cars of a Sunchon-bound train, and, arriving there at 0930 hours attacked the station and engaged in a fire fight with railroad and South Cholla provincial police. Members of the South Korean Coast Guard reportedly joined the mutineers at Sunchon, and fighting was still in progress on 21 Oct. An unrevealed number of the mutinous Coast Guardsmen reportedly were moving from Sunchon to Mokpo at 1500 hours 20 Oct. U.S. observers estimated mutineer strength in Sunchon at 2,400 men on the morning of 21 Oct. One South Korean Police Constabulary battalion was committed against a force of 1,000 mutineers which advanced on Namwon on the night of 20 Oct, while an unconfirmed report indicates that the police at Yonsanpo were attacked by the mutineers. The number of casualties has not been revealed. A South Korean Coast Guard vessel reportedly was prevented from entering the Yosu harbor by fire from the mutineers, who were carrying red flags. Constabulary units in other areas of South Korea report that no disaffection is evident among their units and that they are eager to join in fighting the rebels. (a,b) Comment: It is significant that the commander of the 14th Constabulary Regiment was one of the Constabularymen arrested on 1 Oct in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the Government of the Korean Republic (Intell. Summary 2240). South Cholla Province has long been a Communist stronghold and Communists are known to have infiltrated Constabulary ranks. Reinforcement of the mutineers by civilians indicates a Communist interest in the incident, and the use of red flags further indicates the possibility that the Communists seized the opportunity to spread the disturbance to other localities. Discipline in some units of the Constabulary is weak, and it is possible that the revolt was initiated because of the scheduled transfer to Cheju Island.