South Korean military exercise for attack readiness leads to confusion

• The drill, part of the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield, aims to simulate a war or national emergency.
• Traffic halted in some areas, leading to confusion and frustration among civilians.
• Thousands of pedestrians and government employees cleared the streets and offices.

On Thursday, South Korea conducted a nationwide drill that confused the capital, where traffic came to a standstill and thousands of civilians practiced emergency evacuations. This exercise, part of the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military drills between the United States and South Korea, aims to simulate a war or national emergency. Similar drills occur annually.

In downtown Seoul, an air raid siren blared, followed by loudspeaker announcements urging people to seek shelter. Thousands of pedestrians and government employees cleared the streets and offices, while traffic halted in some areas, leading to confusion and frustration.

“I got stuck in traffic. I didn’t even realize there was a drill, and I didn’t think it was important,” said Kim So-hyeong who was driving through central Seoul.

“I feel like there was a lack of information about the drill. My GPS kept giving me different directions and made me go in circles, so I felt stuck,” she added.

Park Jun-ho, who works at a startup in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district, heard the siren from his office but did not participate.

“Nobody in our office went out,” said Park. “I don’t even think people in our company would know where to go.”

Park Hyo-sun, a professor at Cheongju University, explained that the broad indifference to annual civil defense training arises because South Korea has been technically at war with North Korea since the 1950s. As a result, there is little sense of urgency about the situation.

“The training itself is to teach the public what to do when a war happens, which we technically are in,” said Park. “But people forget that we are at war, and the level of alertness is very low.”

This year’s drill included responses to a North Korean drone attack and terrorist incidents, but officials canceled a planned exercise for dealing with trash-laden balloons. Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with North Korea intensifying weapons testing and bombarding the South with balloons. Kim Myung-oh, director-general of emergency planning and civil defense at Seoul City Hall, emphasized that the training is crucial for “civilians to learn about shelters near them and understand what to do.”

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