The Korean Service Corps was an auxiliary civilian formation organised by the South Korean Army during the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 to provide labourers and porters to carry ammunition and supplies, supplementing the integral logistic

Military logistics

Military logistics is the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with:...

 elements of the US Eighth Army. Due to the nature of their employment on the frontline, they suffered numerous casualties. Formed on 25 July 1950 as an emergency measure, at its peak it had over 133,000 men, organised into three division

Division (military)

A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...

s. Each division consisted for seven regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

s and was assigned in direct support to a formation, on a scale of one division for each corps

Corps

A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...

. They also provided extensive support to British Commonwealth

1st Commonwealth Division

The 1st Commonwealth Division was the name given, after July 1951, to Commonwealth land forces in the Korean War. The division was a multinational unit that was part of British Commonwealth Forces Korea, and whilst British and Canadian Army units formed the bulk of the division, Australian...

 and other United Nations Command units.

Today, the corps continues to exist as an unarmed, civilian paramilitary

Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....

 formation of the US Army, known as the Korean Service Corps Battalion. Its primary role is to augment the combat support

Combat support

In the United States Army, the term combat support refers to units that provide fire support and operational assistance to combat elements. Combat support units provide specialized support functions to combat units in the areas of chemical warfare, combat engineering, intelligence, security, and...

 and combat service support

Combat service support

Combat service support is a subset of military logistics. Combat service support is more limited in depth than logistics, as it primarily addresses those factors directly influencing combat operations.-United States Army:...

functions of US forces in Korea and is capable of being significantly expanded in the event of mobilisation in wartime.