• Korean Security Journal
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• no.34
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• pp.233-258
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• 2013

In the early days of the Goryeo Dynasty, the royal guard was comprised of the central regular army in the 2-gun-6-wi system, and Nasungeomgun was in charge of the security inside the palace. However, the military system became disorganized during the period of military rule and the royal guard had to rely on military subjects. The military officials suppressed the civil ministers centering on Jungbang, the guarding organization close to the King to incapacitate the royal authority and control the state affairs. When the rule of the three leaders of the military rule became short-lived and Dae-seung Gyeong is raised to the ruler, he organized a do-or-die squad comprised of a hundred and more people for his personal safety, and this became the first dobang. Dobang was disassembled after Dae-seung Gyeong died of disease, but under the rule of Chung-heon Choe, Dae-seung Gyeong's dobang was revived and reinforced into 'Yukbeon Dobang' to provide the ruler with personal protection and intensify the ruling system, and it was quite a large organization with more refined system. Yukbeon Dobang was expanded and reinforced into Naeoedobang under the rule of Woo Choe, the son of Chung-heon Choe, and it was enhanced even more into Dobang Samsipyukbeon System under the rule of the grandson, Hang Choe. Dobang can be considered as the guard organization in modern sense, and it collected information and surveyed the area where guarding is required and house troops that belonged to Naedobang eliminated the risks that may follow afterwards to make assurance doubly sure for guarding. The Choe's regime established Mabyeolcho as a private guard organization in addition to dobang, and this formed the cavalry and infantry units with dobang. Yabyeolcho organized by Woo Choe in the reign of King Gojong was divided into Joabyeolcho and Ubyeolcho, and later Sineuigun was integrated with them to form Sambyeolcho. Originally, Yabyeolcho was established under the rule of Woo Choe to prevent crime in the evening, but after Sineuigun was organized with the ones who were captured by Mongolian army but escaped, in other words when Sambyeolcho was organized, the organization displayed much broader influence by covering military and police affairs as well as punishment and imprisonment. The guarding organization during the Period of Military Rule in the Goryeo Dynasty did not have strict distinction between official guard and personal guard. The private guard in modern days which is the equivalent of personal guard is characterized by its commerciality, however, house troops and the members of dobang did not seem to pursued profit. The guard organization during the period of military rule started from dobang which was organized for personal safety but gradually developed publicness through the participation of civil ministers and expansion, and later it played the pivotal role for social security serving official purpose up to the level where the distinction between official and private activities was blurred during the period of Sambyeolcho.