North Korean Shoulderboards?

[Stormfighter]

A 60-something man in my southern New Jersey town asked if I could identify these shoulderboards that his father brought back from the Korean War. His father told him that he killed a North Korean/Chinese officer with a .45 pistol and took these shoulderboards and a sword from him (he also has the sword). Can anyone identify the rank and country of these boards? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Barry

[Britian_Jacky]

for the ranks i guess its maybe a rank equivalent to a lieutenant?

[Finnishlion142]

These Shoulder boards look like the Japanese Police from WW2.

[juoneen]

If his dad is still alive and said they were taken from a North Korean, I feel pretty strongly it would be North Korean. there are Korean members here, but do they have any familiarity with the ranks on boards.??

[hc8mm]

Finnishlion142 is correct, its Japanese Police.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_Japan

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kougun1/54369810.html

[jerryrehr]

The Japanese occupied all of Korea pre Korean war. I lived in a former Japanese compound while stationed there with the 2nd ID.
Jerry

[Gismo]

Shoulder boards

I have two different shoulder boards like these myself. I have only seen pictures of these boards with one, two or three rising sun stars. There is also a cap badge that matches the boards.

I have a few books on Japanese Police uniforms and insignias but they are not pictured in them.

One suggestion is that they were used by the Police musical band before 1946.

http://www.ladda-upp.se/bilder/tawrpeznwrvat/

[Gismo]

Mystery solved.

For those interested what these shoulder boards are
I am happy to inform that they are indeed for the Japanese
Police but in Korea.

The book I have probably only cover the uniforms and insignias of domestic Japan
and not conquered areas.

The model year is probably 1918 when pointed shoulder boards were worn.
In 1932 the shoulder boards changed style from pointed to the Russian style.
However, for formal use, pointed boards were still in use for lower ranks.

Drawings provided shows only the boards in b/w so it is difficult to tell
if the boards are for casual use in 1918 or for formal use in 1932.

The credit for providing this information goes entirely to Nick Komiya
who was kind to take time to dig up the information from the Japan Center of Historical Records.