The Gando Special Force (GSF; ; Japanese

Hepburn romanization is the main system of Romanization of Japanese, romanization for the Japanese language. The system was originally published in 1867 by American Christian missionary and physician James Curtis Hepburn as the standard in the first edition of h ...

: ''Kantō Tokusetsutai''; ) was an independent

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

within the

Manchukuo Imperial Army The Manchukuo Imperial Army ( zh, s=滿洲國軍, p=Mǎnzhōuguó jūn) was the army of Manchukuo, a puppet state established by the Empire of Japan in Manchuria. Established in 1932, it was primarily involved in counterinsurgency operations agai ...

composed primarily of ethnic Koreans, and some experienced foreign

mercenaries A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...

from Asia tasked with suppressing anti-Japanese, and pro-communist

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...

groups in the border areas between northern Japanese occupied Korea and

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

. It operated between 1 December 1938 and 1945. Ex-GSF soldiers/officers are regarded as ''

chinilpa From the late 19th century and until 1945, a number of ethnic Koreans worked with the Empire of Japan. Some of these figures contributed to or benefitted from Japan's colonization of Korea, and some actively worked to counter the Korean independe ...

'' (derogatory term for collaborators with Japan) in modern Korea for their role in suppressing groups advocating Korean independence.

History

The

Jiandao Jiandao or Chientao, known in Korean as Gando or Kando, is a historical border region along the north bank of the Tumen River in Jilin, Jilin Province, Northeast China that has a high population of ethnic Koreans. The word "Jiandao", literall ...

region of Kirin province in

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

, known in Korean as “Gando”, was an area that had been inhabited largely by ethnic Koreans. Before the

Japanese occupation of Korea From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

in 1905, many Koreans opposed to the annexation relocated from Korea to Gando and established

Korean independence movements The Korean independence movement was a series of diplomatic and militant efforts to liberate Korea from Japanese rule. The movement began around the late 19th or early 20th century, and ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. As independence a ...

. Many of these movements later came under the control of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

via the

Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army The Northeast Counter-Japanese United Army, also known as the NAJUA or Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, was the main Counter-Japanese guerrilla army in Northeast China (Manchuria) after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Its prede ...

. From 1907, the Japanese government claimed jurisdiction over all ethnic Koreans regardless of physical location, and friction increased with the government of

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

dynasty China over control of the Gando area, cumulating in the

Gando Convention The 1909 Gando Convention () was a treaty signed between Imperial Japan and Qing China in which Japan recognized China's claims to Jiandao, called Gando in Korean, and Mount Paektu, and in return Japan received railroad concessions in Northeast Ch ...

of 1909. After the Manchurian Incident, and the establishment of Japanese control over all of Manchuria in 1931, another wave of Korean immigration occurred, this time with Japanese encouragement, to help cement Japanese claims on the territory. With the establishment of

in 1932, the situation in Gando was very unstable, with the local population rent into pro-Japanese and anti-Japanese/anti-Manchukuo factions, many of which resorted to

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

. In an effort to subjugate the region, the Japanese recruited pro-Japanese Korean volunteers into a

special warfare Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

force and had trained by the Manchukuo Imperial Army primarily in

counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...

tactics. A number of ethnic Koreans saw better opportunities for advancement via the Manchukuo military academies than would have been impossible in the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

, and joined the new force. These included future South Korean general

Paik Sun-yup Paik Sun-yup (; November 23, 1920 – July 10, 2020) was a Republic of Korea Army four-star general who became the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1959 to 1960. Paik is best known for his service during the Korean War, becoming the ...

. Historian Philip Jowett noted that during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Gando Special Force "earned a reputation for brutality and was reported to have laid waste to large areas which came under its rule." After the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was Hirohito surrender broadcast, announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, End of World War II in Asia, ending ...

, many members of the Gando Special Force were incorporated into the new

Republic of Korea Army The Republic of Korea Army (ROKA; ), also known as the ROK Army or South Korean Army, is the army of South Korea, responsible for ground-based warfare. It is the largest of the military branches of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces with 365,0 ...

by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, for their training, and intimate knowledge of the terrain of the northern part of the Korean peninsula, and the tactics of the

Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) encompasses the combined military forces of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). The KPA consists of five branches: the Korean People's Army Ground Force, Ground Force, the Ko ...

. Some later rose to high positions within the government of the Republic of Korea.

References

* {{Collaboration with Axis Powers Armies of Manchukuo Korean collaborators with Imperial Japan Anti-communist organizations Military units and formations established in 1938 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Japanese war crimes Military of Korea under Japanese rule