Drivers in about 200 areas nationwide had been told to pull to the side of the road. People in nearly 500 supermarkets, movie theatres and other public facilities were guided to evacuate, according to the interior ministry.
At a large office building’s basement parking lot in Seoul, hundreds of office workers gathered following instructions of civil defence instructors through megaphones, with some sipping coffee and others complaining about no air conditioning.
“Well, I don’t know if this is going to happen, but if there’s a bombing, this kind of shelter is useless, though it is still useful to know where those shelters are through the drill,” a female banker said, asking not to be named.
Medical institutions and public transportation operated normally.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol visited the Command Post Tango, a bunker complex for the US-South Korea combined forces, and said that the joint drills are a “source of power to deter North Korea’s provocations”, according to his office.
In some regions bordering North Korea, residents faced additional scenarios, including chemical, biological and radiological training, wearing a gas mask and using emergency food rations, the ministry said.
The Ulchi civil defence exercises were launched in 1969 in the wake of a raid by North Korean commandos into the presidential compound in Seoul. There are about 17,000 shelters installed across the country of 52 million.
But the air defence training has not taken place since 2017.
In late May, the government caused panic among some residents when it issued a false air raid alarm and evacuation warning following North Korea’s failed satellite launch, even though the capital was far off the rocket’s trajectory.