After completing high school Korshel went back to northern Somalia and joined the police force.

He was given a scholarship to go to the National Police College in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, England to complete his training.

Following the establishment of the Somali Republic and the assassination of the young nation's second president, Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, Korshel would later emerge as one of the key figures in the 1969 Somali coup d'état which saw the military junta of Major General Mohamed Siad Barre take power.

He was appointed vice president of Somalia and the VP of the new Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) that assumed office, and put in charge of Internal Affairs.

He died in 1989 in London, England, and was subsequently flown to Mecca, where a religious ceremony was held in his honor before finally being laid to rest in Mogadishu.