Menghean Maritime Security Force

The Maritime Security Force (Menghean: 해양 보안 부대/海洋保安部隊, Haeyang Boan Budae) is the coast guard of Menghe. It has undergone multiple reorganizations, reclassifications, and name changes over the years, and was formerly known as the Maritime Patrol Force, the Maritime Border Security Force, and, informally but not in official translations, the Menghean Coast Guard. Since 2017, it has been organized as an agency-level body subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Security, and thus it is formally known as the Maritime Security Force of the Ministry of Internal Security of the Socialist Republic of Menghe (Dae Meng Sahoejuyi Gonghwaguk Guknae Boanbu Haeyang Boan Budae).

Though no longer directly subordinate to the Menghean Navy, as it was between 2011 and 2017, the Maritime Security Force is a paramilitary organization and many of its ships are armed and built to military standards. In wartime, the Menghean government can transfer control of its assets to the Menghean Navy, which would use them as auxiliary escorts and patrol vessels.

History

In 1964, after its victory in the Menghean War of Liberation, the Democratic People's Republic of Menghe established the Maritime Border Police Force (해양 국경 경찰 부대/海洋國境警察部隊, Haeyang Gukgyŏng Gyŏngchal Budae). This agency, part of the Ministry of State Security, was tasked with patrolling the country's maritime borders and later its exclusive economic zone. While it formally performed most routine duties associated with a coast guard, it was primarily tasked with preventing defectors from escaping from the DPRM to Altagracia, Dayashina, or Hanhae by boat, raft, or, in the case of Altagracia, by swimming. The Maritime Border Police Force also served as a civilian counterweight to the Menghean People's Navy, which, under the terms of the Sangwŏn Agreement, was insulated from the oversight of the Menghean People's Communist Party. The Maritime Border Police Squadron in Donggyŏng included gunboats and torpedo boats which could, in theory, attack a Menghean People's Navy formation entering the Kimhae Sea en route to the capital.

After the Decembrist Revolution, the Ministry of State Security was merged into the Ministry of the Interior and its personnel were purged. To further dismantle the power of the outgoing regime, the interim government transferred the Maritime Border Police Force to the control of the Menghean Navy, which, as a military body, had been insulated from Communist ideological control and was relatively loyal to Choe Sŭng-min's new regime. There, it was renamed the Maritime Border Security Force (Haeyang Gukgyŏng Boan Budae).

In 1995, content that the civilian bureaucracy was loyal to his new regime, Choe Sŭng-min transferred the Maritime Border Security Force back to the control of the Ministry of Internal Security, where it retained its previous name.

The agency was returned to Navy control in 2011, as one of the aftereffects of the 2005 Menghean military reforms. This reorganization was meant to streamline the wartime integration of the paramilitary auxiliary and the active Navy. During this time, it was renamed the Maritime Patrol Force (해양 순찰대 / 海洋巡察隊Haeyang Sunchaldae).

The latest reorganization came in 2017, after the resolution of the Innominadan Crisis. The Maritime Patrol Force was renamed the Maritime Security Force and placed under the controlf of the Ministry of Internal Security. It was also expanded through the merging-in of the Maritime Traffic Control Agency, formerly part of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and the Maritime Monitoring Service, formerly part of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. For the first time, this produced a consolidated agency with the combined missions and resources of a proper coast guard.

Missions

Following its reorganization and consolidation in 2017, the Maritime Security Force is tasked with the following missions in peacetime:

1. Maritime border enforcement, including preventing unlawful incursions into Menghe's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone;
2. Maritime border patrol, the interception of vessels unlawfully entering or leaving the country and any unauthorized passengers or contraband aboard;
3. Maritime law enforcement, including collaboration with international law enforcement agencies to combat cross-border crime;
4. Maritime traffic management, including maintaining shipping lanes and regulating maritime tourism;
5. Search and rescue, specifically air-sea rescue as well as rescue in coastal areas;
6. Disaster response, extending to the shipment of supplies to affected areas;
7. At-sea firefighting, for example at oil platforms and damaged ships;
8. Oceanography and Hydrographic survey, marking of submerged obstacles, and placement and maintenance of buoys; and
9. Marine environmental protection, including monitoring water pollution levels, combating illegal dumping, and containing and cleaning up hazardous spills.

Though the Maritime Security Force is no longer under the direct oversight of the Menghean Navy, the Navy still has the authority to command its ships in times of war. Though usually lacking the newest sensors and weapons, Maritime Security ships often carry some gun armament and provisions for the mounting of additional weapon systems, and could be used as auxiliary escort ships in rear areas or as minelayers in contested or defended waters. Some of the latest Maritime Security ships are configured to accept special-purpose mission modules, including minehunting gear and variable depth sonar. The Maritime Security Force would also deploy its resources to locate and rescue downed airmen and the survivors of sunken ships.

Organization

The Menghean Maritime Security Force is divided into eleven flotillas and two fleets. The flotillas are mostly comprised of small, short-range craft and handle missions close to shore. Each has a well-defined geographic zone of operation, though Maritime Security ships can cross between zones in pursuit of fleeing suspects or suspects near the border. The two fleets are comprised of larger, heavier, longer-range patrol ships and venture further afield, patrolling the outer areas of Menghe's exclusive economic zone and conducting missions in international waters. These larger ships resemble offshore patrol vessels, with military-grade construction standards and provisions for fitting heavier armament.

While most flotillas correspond to Menghean coastal provinces, exceptions exist, and zones of authority do not always perfectly match provincial boundaries. The North Donghae Flotilla is also responsible for the northern segment of Donggyŏng Directly Controlled City's coast, from the North Donghae border down to the Kimchŏng Strait, and the rest of Donggyŏng's coast including the Kim Sea is under the administration of the Central Donghae Flotilla. The Ryonggok Flotilla administers part of Unsan Province's coast from the Ryonggok border down to the entrance of Gyŏngsan Harbor, and the Hadong Flotilla administers another section of Unsan Province's coast from the Hadong border to the mouth of the An River. The Daman Sea from Juman Municipality to Dongbu Prefecture, including the formerly contested waters around Altagracia, is administered by its own flotilla, meaning that South Chŏllo Province does not have a flotilla of its own.

The Meng River has its own dedicated flotilla, which has authority over river traffic from the river mouth up to the meeting of the Banggyŏng River at Junggyŏng's southern border. This is due to the Meng River's breadth, the high volume of shipping traffic it supports, and the fact that it forms the border between many prefectures and municipalities below this point, making it difficult to divide jurisdiction. All of Menghe's other rivers are governed by prefectural police departments, with jurisdiction divided along the official prefectural boundaries, which are usually demarcated down the river's center, when necessary. The Baek River and San River, which form Menghe's borders with Polvokia and the former Innominada (now Argentstan), formerly had Maritime Border Police flotillas as well, but these were transferred to the control of the Border Patrol Forces as part of the 2011 reorganization of the Maritime Security Force, partly to prevent the Menghean Navy from patrolling land borders in the Army's domain and partly to strengthen cooperation between riverine craft and Border Patrol units on the riverbank.

Fleets:

• East Sea Security Fleet
• South Sea Security Fleet

Flotillas:

• North Donghae Coastal Flotilla
• Central Donghae Coastal Flotilla
• South Donghae Coastal Flotilla
• Ryonggok Coastal Flotilla
• Unsan Coastal Flotilla
• Hadong Coastal Flotilla
• Ryangnam Coastal Flotilla
• Daman Coastal Flotilla
• Lakkian AP Coastal Flotilla
• Argentstan AP Coastal Flotilla
• Meng River Flotilla

See also

• Menghean Navy
• Internal Security Forces (Menghe)