From Today, Nationwide Hwarang Training Begins

by Yang Nakgyu

Published 10 Apr.2023 10:13(KST)

Including North Korea Missile Evacuation Drills and More

The Hwarang Exercise will begin on the 10th. The Hwarang Exercise is a civil-military integrated defense drill conducted biennially by region, dividing the 17 metropolitan cities, provinces, and special autonomous provinces nationwide into 11 regions to ensure the lives and safety of the people from North Korean threats during wartime and peacetime.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that this year's Hwarang Exercise will start with the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region and proceed in six regions until October.

Following the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region drill until the 14th, the exercises will be conducted in the following order: Daejeon-Chungnam-Sejong (3rd week of May), Incheon-Gyeonggi (2nd week of June), Gyeongnam (2nd week of July), Seoul (3rd week of September), and Gwangju-Jeonnam (3rd week of October).

This year's exercise is a normalized full-scale field training exercise (FTX) involving civilians, government, military, police, and fire departments to establish a comprehensive security posture. It also includes the operation of joint military-police situation rooms and integrated defense support headquarters. Due to COVID-19, the Hwarang Exercise had been scaled down or conducted as procedural or discussion-based drills over the past three years.

This year's exercise particularly reflects areas discussed at the 56th Central Integrated Defense Meeting held in February, such as civil air defense alarm propagation and evacuation drills (FTX) involving local residents to prepare for North Korean nuclear and missile threats, comprehensive anti-terrorism drills (FTX) for ambiguous terrorist situations, and response drills against cyber terrorism, the Joint Chiefs of Staff explained.

The Integrated Defense Headquarters will operate a government integrated evaluation team composed of experts to comprehensively assess the integrated defense operation readiness of each institution, including the military, local governments, police, coast guard, fire departments, and national critical facilities. Deficiencies identified through the exercises will be addressed as improvement tasks by each institution to enhance the integrated defense posture.