Nuclear War Preparedness: Gyeonggi Province Lacks Civilian Evacuation Shelters

As public anxiety heightens following North Korea's nuclear weapons tests, it has been revealed that Gyeonggi Province has no civilian evacuation shelters prepared for nuclear warfare.

According to the province on the 12th, among 4,087 war evacuation facilities in the province—including basements of large buildings—only 2 Grade 1 facilities are available for evacuation in the event of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear) warfare.

However, these 2 facilities are designated for use as tactical command centers by military personnel and civil servants during crisis situations and are not available for civilian use.

Grade 1 facilities for CBRN warfare preparedness must be located underground and equipped with blast barriers to withstand nuclear explosions, decontamination chambers, and air purification systems. Switzerland, for example, maintains evacuation shelters of sufficient capacity for its entire population, but South Korea has none in Seoul and Incheon, with only 2 operational facilities in Gyeonggi Province.

A provincial official stated, "The nation currently lacks the technology to construct and maintain Grade 1 facilities, and the enormous budgets required make it difficult to build such facilities arbitrarily. It would be more desirable to establish a communication system that can detect signs of nuclear attack in advance, evacuate residents to safe locations, and prevent contamination damage from fallout and other hazards."