- Title: South Koreans lack awareness on bomb shelters, despite the North’s threat
- Date: 11th August 2017
- Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (AUGUST 11, 2017) (REUTERS) PEOPLE GOING DOWN STAIRS TO SUBWAY STATION EMERGENCY SHELTER SIGNS AT STATION ENTRANCE SHELTER SIGN ON TOP OF STATION ENTRANCE PEOPLE WALKING IN SUBWAY STATION EMERGENCY SUPPLIES STORAGE INSIDE STATION EMERGENCY MASK BAGS PEOPLE WAITING AT SUBWAY PLATFORM SIGN DIRECTING TOWARDS EMERGENCY SHELTER (TOP) AND ANOTHER SIGN READING (Korean/English): "NO ENTRY" SIGN READING (Korean): "TUNNEL SHELTER / USE ONLY DURING EMERGENCY" (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) 23-YEAR-OLD'S SOUTH KOREAN, PARK JONG-A, SAYING: "I have heard words of war are coming out these days outside Korea, but I don't really feel like that. I just realized that the City Hall (subway) station is a bomb shelter, so from now on, if I need to hide, I will try to come this way."
- Embargoed: 25th August 2017 10:51
- Keywords: South Korea North Korea threat bomb shelter
- Location: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA / PYONGYANG, UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, NORTH KOREA
- City: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA / PYONGYANG, UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, NORTH KOREA
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0016TPPBNR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Despite growing North Korean threats, South Korean have a lack of awareness on surrounding bomb shelters that could protect themselves from military conflict in the Korean peninsula.
Tension in the region has risen since the reclusive North staged two nuclear bomb tests last year and launched two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July in defiance of world powers. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he would not allow Pyongyang to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the United States.
South Korea has nearly 19,000 bomb shelters throughout the country, that include more than 3,200 in Seoul, just 40 km (25 miles) from the militarized border drawn up under a truce that stopped the 1950-53 Korean War but left the combatants technically at war.
Most of the shelters are located in subway stations, basements, parking garages in private apartments or commercial buildings designated as shelters with the consent of the owners.
Experts say the government should make more efforts to raise awareness on the shelters as tensions escalate over Pyongyang's rapidly advancing nuclear weapons program. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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