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S. Korea holds evacuation drill
Source: Agencies |
December 16, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
SOUTH Koreans stopped their cars, donned gas masks and ducked into underground shelters yesterday in the country's biggest-ever evacuation drill - a government attempt to prepare traditionally indifferent citizens for what it said possible attacks by North Korea.
Fears of war on the divided Korean Peninsula have intensified since the rivals fired artillery shells at each other last month across their tense western sea border. Four South Koreans on a front-line island were killed.
Both Koreas accuse each other of staging the first provocation. North Korea claims that South Korea fired artillery toward its territorial waters, while South Korea says it launched shells southward, not toward North Korea, as part of routine exercises.
The nationwide 20-minute evacuation drills yesterday were the largest since it began the training in 1975.
In frigid temperatures, air raid sirens blared. Government officials and company employees stopped work and evacuated to underground shelters in basements, subway stations and parking lots. Housewives were told to turn off the gas in their kitchens.
A dozen South Korean fighters flew over major cities to simulate North Korean air strikes. Bullet trains ran at low speeds in a symbolic move to join with other stopped vehicles.
In downtown Seoul, about 50 kilometers from the heavily militarized border and within easy range of North Korean artillery, the city's congested streets momentarily cleared as traffic halted.
There was no penalty for not going to shelters, but authorities encouraged participation, sending out word through the media and posting notices in residential areas. Officials estimated up to 12 million of South Korea's 49 million people took part in the drill.
Fears of war on the divided Korean Peninsula have intensified since the rivals fired artillery shells at each other last month across their tense western sea border. Four South Koreans on a front-line island were killed.
Both Koreas accuse each other of staging the first provocation. North Korea claims that South Korea fired artillery toward its territorial waters, while South Korea says it launched shells southward, not toward North Korea, as part of routine exercises.
The nationwide 20-minute evacuation drills yesterday were the largest since it began the training in 1975.
In frigid temperatures, air raid sirens blared. Government officials and company employees stopped work and evacuated to underground shelters in basements, subway stations and parking lots. Housewives were told to turn off the gas in their kitchens.
A dozen South Korean fighters flew over major cities to simulate North Korean air strikes. Bullet trains ran at low speeds in a symbolic move to join with other stopped vehicles.
In downtown Seoul, about 50 kilometers from the heavily militarized border and within easy range of North Korean artillery, the city's congested streets momentarily cleared as traffic halted.
There was no penalty for not going to shelters, but authorities encouraged participation, sending out word through the media and posting notices in residential areas. Officials estimated up to 12 million of South Korea's 49 million people took part in the drill.
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