On Aug. 19, South Korean and U.S. forces commenced Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), their annual joint military exercise. This year’s drill will, for the first time, include government response training for a hypothetical North Korean nuclear attack, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The exercises will involve civilian evacuation, damage assessment, and casualty rescue operations, with military units participating in the evacuation drills. The primary focus of this year’s exercise is to master specific response measures in the event of a North Korean nuclear strike.
North Korea’s first successful nuclear test took place in 2006, with South Korea as its intended target from the outset. Following its sixth test in 2017, Pyongyang has openly threatened South Korea with nuclear attacks. While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is likely aware that using nuclear weapons would be suicidal, the risk, however slim, cannot be entirely dismissed. This uncertainty is what makes nuclear weapons both dangerous and strategically significant.
The government’s fundamental duty is to prepare for the worst-case scenario to protect the lives and safety of its citizens. However, past administrations have acted as though the North Korean nuclear threat didn’t exist. While this might have been a strategic necessity at the time, that approach is now outdated. The Moon Jae-in administration even refused to conduct nuclear evacuation drills, arguing that it would unnecessarily alarm the public. But ignoring the risk of a nuclear attack doesn’t make it go away. When the Soviet Union successfully tested a nuclear weapon in 1949, the United States immediately enacted civil defense laws in 1950 to prepare for nuclear contingencies. In contrast, it has taken South Korea 18 years since North Korea’s first nuclear test to conduct its first government response drill—long overdue.
On Aug. 22, a nationwide civil defense drill is scheduled, simulating an air raid scenario with sirens, civilian evacuations, and traffic control exercises. Although civil defense drills were reinstated last year after a six-year hiatus, the execution was inadequate. For instance, during the air raid alert, people continued walking in the streets, and in one case, only one elementary school student took shelter in a designated area meant for 1,200 households. While the government provided information about shelters online, in a real nuclear attack, the internet would likely be one of the first things to go down. Currently, the extent of most South Koreans’ nuclear evacuation knowledge is to “head underground.” Few are familiar with specific evacuation procedures or locations, and even fewer know that a siren indicating a nuclear attack would wail in a wavering pattern for one minute.
Countries like the U.S., Japan, and even China educate their citizens on nuclear response strategies, yet South Korea remains complacent. The purpose of such drills is to ensure that people can act instinctively in a real emergency through repeated practice. Both the government and citizens must take these exercises seriously, equipping themselves with practical knowledge and participating fully in nuclear preparedness training.
