Conscription in South Korea
The basis for military conscription in South Korea is the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, which was promulgated on July 17, 1948. The constitution states in Article 39, "All citizens shall have the duty of national defense under the conditions as prescribed by Act." The Military Service Act of 1949, which was implemented in 1957, specified that compulsory military service is required for men ages 19 or older. Conscription is managed by the Military Manpower Administration, which was created in 1948.
Battle of Haman
Following the June 25, 1950, outbreak of the Korean War after the invasion of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), the United Nations voted to commit troops to the conflict in support of South Korea. The United States, as a member of the UN, committed ground forces to the Korean peninsula with the goals of repelling the North Korean invasion and preventing South Korea from collapsing. By 1950, US forces in the Far East had been steadily decreasing since the end of World War II, five years earlier, and at the time the closest forces were the US 24th Infantry Division, headquartered in Japan. The division was understrength, and most of its equipment was antiquated due to reductions in military spending. Regardless, the 24th was ordered to South Korea. However, it faced numerous disadvantages. The forces were poorly equipped; many battalions had only two companies of infantry, as opposed to the regulation three. Headquarters Company, and supporting platoon elements were much smaller than regulation stated, making them substantially less effective. Most of the soldiers of the division had no combat experience and used to the luxuries of life in occupied Japan. Only one third of the officers in the Task Force had combat experience from World War II, and only one in six enlisted soldiers had combat experience. Many of them nevertheless volunteered to join the task force. The soldiers were each equipped with only 120 rounds of ammunition and two days of C-rations.