Full-scale civil defense drill planned for Wednesday

Children hold their school bags over their heads as they take part in a civil evacuation drill at the Central Government Complex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on May 16. [YONHAP]

South Korea will hold a nationwide civil defense drill next week amid rising threats from North Korea.

The 20-minute drill on Wednesday will be the country’s first nationwide drill involving the public in over six years.

Around 2,800 sirens will sound and 216 roads across the country will be restricted, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

An earlier civil defense drill on May 16 involved schools and government institutions but not the general public.

Fifty-seven areas, including cities and counties in Chungcheong, North Jeolla and South Jeolla regions, will be exempted from participating in the drill as they were declared special disaster zones due to recent heavy rains and Typhoon Khanun.

The drill will begin at 2 p.m. Wednesday, with minute-long air-raid sirens alarming residents. Public safety alert messages will also be sent to people’s phones.

After the sirens sound, residents will be required to evacuate to the nearest civil defense shelter.

As of December last year, the country designated a total of 17,483 places, including subway platforms and underground shopping malls, as civil defense shelters.

The public can learn the locations of designated evacuation areas on portal sites and the ministry’s Emergency Ready App.

People are advised to evacuate to closed underground areas if there are no designated shelters nearby.

Outdoor movements will be restricted through 2:15 p.m.

Those driving on roads that are restricted during the drill will need to park their cars on the right side of the road and turn on the radio for instructions.

Airplanes and subways will operate as usual.

But passengers who get off the subway and train stations will not be allowed to leave the platform.

At designated shelters, people will receive emergency guidelines, including lists of necessities to bring in emergency situations.

From 2:15 p.m. people will be allowed to freely move outside but are advised to keep alert.

The drill will end at 2:20 p.m., with the public notified through broadcast and emergency alert text messages.

The ministry said it also established a cooperative system with crowded facilities, such as cinemas and department stores, to increase participation in the drill.

Special practice drills will take place in areas adjacent to the demilitarized zone, on the five islands of the West Sea and Yeongjong Island in Incheon.

The nationwide drill will take place against a backdrop of rising nuclear threats from North Korea.

According to a survey by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, around 58 percent of respondents said the country was insecure.

North Korea fired a total of 17 missiles between January and July 24 of this year.

The North also launched a space launch vehicle that crashed into the Yellow Sea on May 31. An emergency alert was mistakenly sent to residents in Seoul following the launch, startling many in the early morning.

Last year, North Korea fired 38 missiles, a dramatic increase from just five in 2020 and eight in 2021.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]