South Korea Conducts First Civil Defense Exercises in 6 Years Air raid sirens wailed in downtown as authorities stopped cars and ordered people to go to underground shelters in South Korea’s first civil defense drills in six years. The 20-minute drill, which started at 2 p.m. local time, was aim at “preparing for rapid evacuation in case of an air attack such as a North Korean missile provocation,” South Korea’s Interior Ministry said.
As sirens sounded across South Korea
pedestrians were order to move to nearby shelters or underground facilities. There are about 17,000 designated shelters across the country.
In areas closer to nuclear-armed North Korea, the government is setting up more intense drills, with chemistry, biology and radiology training, including instructions to wear gas masks and impose emergency food rations.
Participation in the exercise is not mandatory, but those who took part said it was important to raise awareness about the security situation on the Korean peninsula.
Choi In-ho, a 62-year-old travel agent, said the practice was “a bit of a hassle,” but necessary. “We are always in confrontation with North Korea But we always think that it is not a problem,” he told AFP.
A number of residents said they did not care about the practice.
One user on social media platform X wrote: “I heard sirens so I turned my music up louder.”
The civil defense drills were launch in 1969 after an attack by North Korean. Commandos on the presidential complex in Seoul. But the drills have been suspend since 2017 initially because of a thaw. In relations with Pyongyang, and then because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
South Korea’s widely read Chosun. Ilbo newspaper said the resumption of the civil drills was “urgent” after multiple. Natural disasters and an increasing nuclear threat from North Korea.
“How many people know what to do in the event. Of a missile attack from North Korea, an earthquake or a fire?”
The civil defense drills come just months after the government mistakenly sent an emergency evacuation warning across Seoul over North Korea’s rocket launch, sparking widespread panic. [ab/uh]
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