I Army Corps
I Army Corps is a First Echelon unit of the Korean People's Army that is deployed along the DMZ where it can conduct offensive across the DMZ or provide defense in the event of an invasion. As the unit is a forward corps it is organized accordingly with four infantry divisions, and a light infantry brigade, an armor brigade, two artillery brigades, an anti-aircraft regiment, two mortar regiments, and a river-crossing regiment.
On June 10, 1950, P'yongyang established I Corps under the command of Lt. General Kim Ung. During the Korean War the unit was comprised of the 8th Infantry Division, the 17th Mechanized Division, the 23rd Infantry Division, and the 47th Infantry Division. KIMH also indicates that I Corps also had the 3rd and 4th Divisions assigned to it at the beginning of the war.
The NKPA plan for the invasion of South Korea called for I Corps to direct the 3rd and 4th Divisions to advance along the Ch'orwon-P'och'on-Uijungbu axis supported by the 105th Armored Brigade. The 1st and 6th Division (an element of) were to move along the Kumch'on-Kaesong-Munsan and Kuhwari-Korangp'o-Munsan axis. Another element of the 6th Division, of roughly battalion strength attacked the Ongjin and Kimp'o peninsulas.
Intelligence reports dating from June and July 1951 indicate that the North Korean I Corps, which then had its headquarters at Korangp'o-ri, enjoyed the support of an artillery regiment that was probably equipped with 122mm guns. Antiaircraft protection for corps headquarters was allegedly furnished by an unknown number of 37mm antiaircraft guns and some antiaircraft machine guns assigned to a corps antiaircraft battalion. The I Corps artillery section at that time was under the command of Senior Colonel KANG-Pyong-Ch’an, and included Colonel Lee=Ch'ung-Yol the chief of staff of the artillery section, and Colonel HO-Song-Sok, the chief of the artillery tactics section.
