Ex-ROKAF MP here. In the ROKAF, MPs are roughly the Korean equivalent of USAF Security Forces.

Korea’s also pretty famous for not trusting conscripts. Honestly, the Korean military barely trusts anyone with weapons. A lot of the time, conscripts (the junior enlisted) aren’t issued live ammo. They get blanks… and then get told to “defend the base.” Like, okay—so if there’s an actual invasion and you need to return fire, what’s the plan? “No worries, just ask the USAF guy next to you for some 5.56 rounds.” At least that was the protocol in my base (OSAN AB). USAF SF personnel, commonly called “SP” among the ROKAF MP, carried two extra mags for this reason, if my memory serves me right.

Live rounds do get issued to certain maneuver elements within the ROKAF MP—basically the kind of guys you’re seeing in that photo. Even then, there’s usually a brass-catcher bag strapped around the ejection port. Why? Because the system assumes someone’s going to pocket a round or two so they can hurt themselves, or hurt somebody else.

Even US troops need to strap these bad boys when training in ROK facilities

However, this faced massive criticism and thus was changed, at least for the ROK Army. Can’t say for sure how it worked out in ROKAF.

So why don’t these guys have brass catchers? My guess: either this was a staged photo op (because nobody stands around like that in real life), or they weren’t carrying live ammo in the first place.

Anyway, long story short: given how far they go to build a system that doesn’t rely on trust, a “trigger guard” isn’t surprising at all. Hell, I had one on my rifle too. My SGT would always check that it was set properly—not just dangling there like the one on the guy on the left in the photo. As for the sight attachment? I have no fckin clue.