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Korea Herald
4 days ago
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Security heightened for election day
Authorities vowed to put in their utmost effort to ensure a safe election, with measures ranging from accident prevention at campaign sites and polling and counting stations, to providing security when transporting ballot boxes. The Seoul Metropolitan Police announced that it will issue the 'gapho' emergency alert on Tuesday, the day of the presidential election. The gapho alert is the highest emergency level in the police's emergency response system and allows the mobilization of up to 100 percent of all available police personnel. According to police, the heightened measure was made after considering growing concerns over the increase in election-related crimes. 'As Election Day approaches, there are concerns about not only threats to candidates but about the public as well, including potential physical collisions between different supporters at campaign sites and the vandalism of election materials,' said the police. Police will deploy 21,700 personnel to provide security at polling and counting stations across the nation during Tuesday's presidential election. Armed police officers will be set to respond to certain situations, such as interference with the transport of ballot boxes, according to the police. It also added that mobile police squads used for crowd control will be stationed in the four key areas of Mapo-gu, Dongdaemun-gu, Yeongdeungpo-gu and Gangnam-gu to maintain public order until the ballot count is completed. Police temporarily banned the release of privately owned firearms until June 4 to ensure public safety to the fullest extent. It also vowed to conduct strict and prompt investigations into any election-related criminal activity. The National Fire Agency also announced that a total of 242 nationwide fire stations will go on two-day special emergency duty until the end of the June 3 presidential election. According to the agency, 464 fire trucks and close to 2,200 firefighters will be deployed at polling and counting stations across Korea to inspect electrical facilities to ensure proper operation. While a 24-hour monitoring system and on-site command system are set to ensure prompt responses in case of any incidents, firefighting personnel will also instruct building officials on how to respond to emergencies in the early stages. According to the agency, it will also secure emergency vehicle access routes around different polling and counting stations, and maintain emergency communication lines with the National Election Commission and the police. In response to the recent Seoul subway arson, Seoul Metro announced it would be implementing special safety management and strict security measures to prevent copycat crimes and handle potential contingencies on Tuesday. All 276 stations, trains and depots of Seoul Subway Line No. 1 through No. 8 will be checked. The subway operator will enhance CCTV monitoring of vulnerable areas, restrict access to key facilities and conduct 24-hour on-site patrols of subway facilities until the end of the June 3 presidential election. 'We will thoroughly inspect stations, trains and less visible areas to stop public anxiety and be fully prepared for any potential emergency situation,' the Seoul Metro official said on Monday.
Korea Herald
29-05-2025
- General
- Korea Herald
Navy patrol aircraft crashes in Pohang during drill
A P-3 maritime patrol aircraft, carrying four people, crashed into a mountain near a naval base in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, authorities said Thursday. The Navy confirmed in the afternoon that a P-3 patrol aircraft with four aboard crashed into an area near its naval base soon after 1:43 p.m. The aircraft was engaged in a military training exercise, it added. As of press time, the Navy said the cause of the crash was unknown and any casualties remained unknown as of 2:51 p.m. "A P-3 maritime patrol aircraft that took off for training from an air base in Pohang at 1:43 p.m. crashed at a nearby location due to unidentified reasons," the Navy said in a notice to reporters. The crash appeared to have caused a fire, with heavy smoke covering the area, according to photos provided by the local media. The National Fire Agency said 40 firefighters and two helicopters were deployed to the crash site on a mountain in Pohang, after receiving reports at around 1:50 p.m. Thursday's crash came nearly three months after an uncrewed aerial vehicle crashed into a Surion utility helicopter at an aviation battalion at an Army base in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, in mid-March. The fire destroyed both aircraft, but there were no casualties. Also on March 6, two KF-16 fighter jets accidentally bombed a village in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, during a training exercise, injuring multiple people. The incident was caused by a pilot entering incorrect target coordinates.
Korea Herald
29-04-2025
- General
- Korea Herald
Fire agency announces standards for faster on-site dispatch
The National Fire Agency announced a set of measures during a press briefing Tuesday to allow for quicker dispatch of fire authorities at sites nationwide needing urgent response, according to the '8-minute peak arrival theory.' The 8-minute peak arrival theory is a theory that fire authorities in South Korea have referred to for rapid response to sites in need of putting out fires over the last five years. According to the theory, it takes about eight minutes after a fire breaks out for all objects at the scene to be heated to a point where flames grow larger and erupt simultaneously. At this critical phase, survival becomes nearly impossible for residents in and near the fire. Since 2020, fire authorities set a target for fire trucks to arrive within seven minutes of an emergency report being issued. As a result, by 2024, responders arrived within seven minutes 80.8 percent of the time in the eight metropolitan cities and 69.2 percent across all 18 cities and provinces nationwide. Though a seven-minute response rate was observed on average of 67 percent of the time nationwide over the last five years, the fire agency stated that significant regional disparities were caused by increased traffic volume, vehicle congestion and delays at intersections, narrow alleyways and illegally parked vehicles along emergency routes. To minimize such limitations, the agency noted that it will begin to expand the emergency vehicle priority signal system starting this year, which allows emergency response vehicles to secure the right of way when entering congested intersections, hospital transport routes and accident-prone areas. Through collaborating with local governments and the police in 2024, the fire agency introduced the priority signal system at 5,318 intersections nationwide. As of this year, the system operates at all 27,772 intersections located in 18 provinces nationwide. Also, the installation of traffic signal control systems in fire stations nationwide, which allows signals in front of a fire station to be controlled with a switch inside the station, will be completed this year. This will allow for the safe and efficient entry of fire trucks onto roads. From this year, the access system for emergency responders such as fire authorities will also be expanded nationwide. Known as the "119 Pass," the system allows responders to quickly pass through communal entrances of apartment complexes, which are normally locked. According to the agency, the 119 Pass is being piloted in nine provincial areas and cities, including Busan, Ulsan and Gangwon Province. By the end of this year, the agency aims to install the 119 Pass system at 20 percent of the 11,000 apartment complexes nationwide and 40 percent of all apartment complexes by 2026. To address areas that are difficult for fire trucks to access, the agency will continue to cooperate with local governments by improving road conditions based on the specifications of domestic fire vehicles, as well as strictly addressing illegal parking in fire lanes and areas near firefighting water facilities.
Al Arabiya
11-04-2025
- Climate
- Al Arabiya
At least two trapped in metro construction site collapse in South Korea
At least two people were trapped Friday when a construction site for a new metro line collapsed near the South Korean capital Seoul, the National Fire Agency said. The site was part of an underground transit project connecting Seoul's Yeouido district to Ansan and Siheung in Gyeonggi province, the country's most populous region. The National Fire Agency said the collapse occurred during 'tunnel reinforcement work'. Two people have been confirmed trapped, but further details are still being verified, the agency said in a statement. One of the two has been located and was being rescued, but the other -- an excavator operator -- remains missing. The National Fire Agency added that 55 firefighters had been deployed for the rescue operation. The site had already been evacuated due to safety concerns early Friday morning, before the collapse, and police had closed off a one-kilometer (0.6-mile) stretch of road around the construction area. A police official told local media that a site supervisor had reported cracks in an underground support column, which led to a joint response with city authorities. 'There were concerns over possible ground subsidence, so we blocked the road as a precaution,' the official told reporters. Police said they would keep the road closed until the reinforcement work is finished and the site is deemed to be safe. The incident comes just weeks after one person was killed when a massive sinkhole opened up in Seoul. The sinkhole accident took place at a site where extension work for a different metro line was underway.
Korea Herald
30-03-2025
- General
- Korea Herald
How storied Hahoe Village survived deadly wildfires
As flames from a deadly wildfire approached within kilometers of South Korea's historic and storied Hahoe Village, firefighters employed an unconventional strategy: continuously drenching the UNESCO World Heritage village with tens of thousands of liters of water, hour after hour and overnight Surrounding woodlands were also preemptively cleared to reduce the danger of the fire spreading. The blaze started in Uiseong-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, on March 22, and rapidly spread to nearby towns. By Thursday, the flames were within 5 kilometers of Hahoe Village, Andong, a city which lies adjacent to the county of Uiseong-gun. To preserve the site, firefighters worked through the night, dousing the hanok — centuries-old traditional wooden homes with straw roofs — in round upon round of water. Supported by a giant fire-fighting pump system and the adjacent Nakdong River, teams fought to keep the hanok safe. According to the National Fire Agency, these efforts kept even a single spark from spreading to the village. 'The decision to soak the fire ground is made when the size of the flames is far greater than the available fire power. It is a defensive measure applied when wildfires are expected to grow intensely, fueled either by strong winds or other risks of combustion,' a fire agency official, who was not authorized to be named in accordance with agency policy, told The Korea Herald. 'When speed to implement this measure mattered the most, the large-scale fire pump system played a crucial role,' the official added. According to the fire authorities, this large-volume system can discharge up to 75,000 liters of water per minute, a performance equivalent to that of nearly 27 fire trucks, which spray 2,800 liters of water per minute. The fire pump system, which was first introduced at Ulsan Chemical Rescue Center in 2022, caught public attention after proving its effectiveness. On Feb. 10, it was able to bring major flames under control within 15 minutes when deployed to the oil storage tank fire at Ulsan Onsan Industrial Complex. The official explained that the geographical location of Hahoe Village enabled the firefighters to apply this high-performance equipment successfully 'There must be a river, sea or a reservoir to install this system, because it needs a huge amount of water. Luckily, we were able to draw water from Nakdong River, which encircled the village,' said the official. Advanced equipment aside, the fire authorities deployed some 100 firefighters, 21 fire trucks as well as three fire helicopters to the site for preemptive firefighting operations on Wednesday and Thursday, when the cultural heritage site was most threatened by the fast-moving wildfires. The fire agency reportedly continued to spray water all over the village every one or two hours to keep fire from spreading in dry conditions. As part of broader efforts to protect nearby cultural sites, the fire agency also conducted logging operations at the nearby areas of the Byeongsanseowon, a 17-century Confucian academy on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list, to eliminate factors that can ignite any small fire. Pine and oak trees from 1,322 square meters of woodland near Byeongsanseowon were cut down and authorities built a defense line by soaking the logged trees to contain the wild fire. The fire authorities took similar firefighting measures at Byeongsanseowon Confucian Academy with the fire pump system and more than 10 fire trucks, soaking the cultural heritage site to prevent wooden buildings from catching fire. Wildfires in southeastern South Korea scorched 48,238 hectares — an area equivalent to about 80 percent the size of Seoul — despite a week of containment efforts, claiming 30 lives and injuring 45 as of Sunday morning, according to the authorities. The Ministry of Interior and Safety announced that all of the wildfires that raged across Gyeongsang provinces were fully contained as of Sunday afternoon. The wildfires forced more than 6,000 people to evacuate and damaged some 6,100 private and public facilities.
