Korean Job Discussion Forums

ed · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

does anyone happen to have any pictures of the uniformed guys at the airport carrying machine guns?

when I first arrived in korea I was surprised to see men with machine guns walk around the airport.

since then I have wanted to take a picture of them but every time I go there with my camera ready I don't see them anywhere.

also I was told by someone a long time ago that it is illegal to take pictures in the airport so I always keep my camera hidden and the few times I saw them I was unable to use my camera in time.

so, do you?

anyangoldboy · Joined: 28 Sep 2007

Police carrying machine guns at an airport is pretty common around most of the airports i've been at

sojourner1 · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 6:43 pm Post subject:

I never saw this in America, but I saw it in Paris and other parts as well. I would say that most places do have this sort of thing. Nothing to worry about, but those AK-47's are cool looking.

Dome Vans · Guest

Heathrow has 3 machine gun carrying police officers to every one member of the public.

Rob'sdad · Joined: 12 May 2008 Location: Seoul

Germany in the 70's early 80's while the Red Army Faction was active was intimidating. Especially after the 1977 Deutsche Herbst (German Fall). My dad's friend lived on the same street as the attorney general and when his wife walked the dog, an APC followed her. Commercial airplanes landed dive bomb style because the terrorists were supposed to have ground to air missles.

Spain in '80 had democratic elections and there were cops with machine guns everywhere.

Finally, Korea prior to 93 or so used to have guards outside of banks armed with M-1 Carbines.

(sidebar)In regards to the poster about the AK-47s. I like the one in 'The Lord of War.' That gold one that the African cat was rockin'. I have to get one of those.

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

Nah, it's quite common around the world these days.

uberscheisse · Joined: 02 Dec 2003 Location: japan is better than korea.

shooting an AK 47 is one of the most gratifying 30 dollar experiences you can ever have. if one visits vietnam, cu chi is an essential stop.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Only the police in the airport are not carrying AK-47's. I think they're actually variants of the HK MP5 or an M4A1, but I didn't get a good look last year. I know they're not AK-47's. An AK-47 would be a very dangerous and impractical weapon to be using in an airport. You'd kill more civilians with it than bad guys.

Here's what an M4A1 looks like:

BritishinSuwon · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:31 pm Post subject: Re: they have machine guns!

It's really not that shocking. I lived (and travelled in and out of) England at the hight of the IRA's bombings in the late 80's and early 90's, and it was nothing to see cops walking around in the airports with machine guns. It was nothing to be "randomly" searched by a cop with a machine gun tucked under their arm either.

rsmm0224 · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Location: Changwon

After 9/11 there were National Guard troops in all the US airports with M-16s. That was a little intimidating. I saw two guys in Seoul when I came with what looked like MP-5s. They didn't look they were in the mood for picture time. haha