Government: "This Year's Eulji Exercise to Involve All Citizens in Civil-Military Integration"

National Total War Exercise in Crisis Situations

The government plans to conduct this year's Eulji Exercise as an integrated civil-government-military government exercise involving the entire nation. The plan is to assess emergency preparedness capabilities through a national total war exercise in times of crisis.

2022 Eulji Exercise training scene. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that Prime Minister Han Duck-soo presided over the 2023 Eulji Exercise preparation briefing on the 3rd at the Government Seoul Office, attended by heads of central administrative agencies, provincial governors, and military commanders. This meeting was held to comprehensively review the preparation status of government and military exercises ahead of the Eulji Exercise scheduled for this month.

The Eulji Exercise is an emergency preparedness drill conducted at the government level to review and supplement emergency preparedness plans and to practice wartime mission procedures in order to protect the lives and property of the nation and its people in the event of war, armed conflict, or a comparable national emergency. It is conducted once a year nationwide.

This year marks the 55th Eulji Exercise, which will be conducted nationwide for 3 nights and 4 days from the 21st to the 24th of this month. Approximately 4,000 organizations, including administrative agencies at the eup, myeon, and dong levels or higher, public institutions, organizations, and key management companies, as well as about 580,000 people, are expected to participate.

In particular, this year’s exercise is designed to reflect North Korea’s various provocations such as advanced nuclear and missile threats, cyberattacks, and drone terrorism, enabling the government to assess its emergency preparedness capabilities through a national total war exercise in times of crisis.

First, ▲ to cultivate civil servants’ ability to perform wartime missions, surprise emergency mobilization will be conducted ▲ real-time integrated response exercises among the military, government, and public institutions and mutual cross-verification and supplementation of emergency preparedness plans by each agency ▲ integrated civil-government-military-police response training to prepare for terrorist attacks on nationally important facilities, training to respond to cyber threats and other ‘soft terror,’ and inspection of anti-drone systems ▲ evacuation drills for residents of the five West Sea islands, movement drills for residents in contact areas, and community-based training at eup, myeon, and dong levels to strengthen public participation drills.

Especially on August 23, a civil defense drill for ‘air raid preparedness’ involving the entire nation will be conducted for the first time in six years, including resident evacuation and vehicle movement control.

Prime Minister Han stated, “We expect that the national emergency preparedness posture will be significantly elevated through practical training reflecting North Korea’s patterns of provocation.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.