The scenario: a blast rocks the 55-floor Korea World Trade Center and police and paramedics swiftly evacuate office workers from the glass-fronted skyscraper.
Helicopters hovered, rescue teams rappelled and black-clad commandos disarmed actors posing as terrorists during a recent disaster drill at the office building. Smoke bombs and explosions were plentiful.
South Korea, which will co-host the World Cup soccer finals next year with Japan, is eager to offer reassurances that it can thwart any terrorist attacks like those in the US. Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected during the event.
With the US team qualifying for the tournament, South Korean officials plan to tighten security measures such as airport controls. But many people are uneasy.
"A lot of people from various countries will be coming and that could provide a good target for terrorists," said Kim Eui-kyong, a kindergarten teacher.
South Koreans have been on low-level alert for decades because of their standoff with North Korea, though terrorism fears have diminished with fewer confrontations and more dialogue in the past decade.
Men still serve 26 months in the military, and anti-aircraft guns perch on tall buildings around Seoul. Air raid sirens blare four times a year in parts of South Korea; cars are supposed to stop briefly and pedestrians should shelter in nearby buildings, but many people ignore the exercise.
South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has pledged support for the US-led campaign against terrorism, and his government last week sent blankets, tents, clothes and other aid to Afghan refugees fleeing US bombing.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
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