The National Defense Forces Incident occurred in January 1951 during the Korean War, when officials of the National Defense Forces Command embezzled military supplies and rice supplied to the National Defense Forces. On April 30, 1951, the National Assembly passed a resolution to dissolve the National Defense Force, which was disbanded on May 12, 1951. On August 12, they were executed by firing squad in Bansan, a suburb of Daegu. On August 12, the execution was carried out by firing squad in Bansan, a suburb of Daegu. The Syngman Rhee regime framed only the parties involved as guilty and quickly purged them, closing the curtain and covering up the crime.
The National Defense Force is a Korean military organization formed under the Act on the Establishment of the National Defense Force of December 21, 1950, by compulsory conscription of eligible members of the Second National Army who are not students and are between the ages of 14 and 40. The South Korean government conscripted about 500,000 soldiers, who were dispersed and housed in about 51 educational regiments to form the National Defense Force to reinforce the South Korean army. on January 4, 1951, the South Korean army, under the offensive of both North Korean and Chinese forces, dared to retreat from the front line, which was called the 1.4 Retreat. The approximately 500,000 or so soldiers of the National Defense Forces were forced to move en masse to the rear, to Daegu and Pusan, by order of the command, where military service was scarce. The command of the National Defense Forces was composed of cadres of the Youth League, a white terrorist organization with no military experience.
Due to the lack of supplies such as food, camping equipment, and military uniforms for the soldiers retreating on foot in the extreme cold, about 90,000 people died of starvation and freezing, and countless others died of disease in the "death march" of the National Defense Forces. On January 30, 1951, the National Assembly estimated that the National Defense Forces numbered about 500,000, and formulated a budget of about 20.9 billion won for three months. A parliamentary investigation revealed that about 2.3 billion won had been taken from the treasury due to padding of the number of troops, and about 52,000 stones of grain had been embezzled, resulting in a difference of about 2 billion won between the amount appropriated for foodstuffs and the actual amount executed or procured. Part of the embezzled money was used as political funds and bribes for President Lee Seung-man and members of the National Assembly. Relief supplies from the United Nations were also not allocated to the National Defense Forces, as they were not a regular Korean army.
As of December 1950, the South Korean army had lost about 45% of its troops on the Nakdong River front due to a surprise attack by North Korean forces. Furthermore, due to the abolition of conscription in March 1950, it was not possible to call up troops. On January 4, 1951, the North Korean Army and the Chinese Volunteer Army retook Seoul, and from the 1.4 retreat, the National Defense Forces went into a deadly retreat to the south.
