Page 84 - 2018 Defense White Paper

Section 4 Building a Proactive and

Comprehensive Support

System to Overcome National

Disasters

To protect the lives and safety of servicemembers, the MND has established a field-oriented preemptive
disaster preparedness posture for potential disasters within the military. The MND has also established a
support system to swiftly and proactively provide troops and equipment in the event of a national disaster to
protect the lives and properties of the people. At the same time, the ROK Armed Forces actively participates
in international cooperation activities for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in the event of an overseas
disaster, and strengthens its overseas emergency relief system and related international cooperation.

1. Establishing a Disaster Prevention and Response System

| Strengthening Disaster Prevention Activities in the Military | To protect the lives and

safety of servicemembers and ensure their safe return to their families in healthy shape, disaster
prevention activities in the military, such as those concerning facilities, have been strengthened.
Military units are vulnerable to national disasters, in particular, because many military

units are located in mountainous areas and installed with aging facilities. In preparation for
potential disasters, the ROK Armed Forces has established a field-oriented preemptive disaster
preparedness posture.

The MND has been reinforcing daily safety inspections and periodic safety tests 29) on aging
military facilities and vulnerable areas exposed to risks of accidents while conducting safety

29) In 2018, safety inspections were carried out on approximately 94,000 military facilities over 68 days between
February 5 and April 13. The facilities identified as lacking in safety are divided into three groups depending on
the time required to fix them—immediate, short-term, and mid- and long-terms—and are managed separately.

82 Chapter 3 Establishing a Robust Defense Posture against Omnidirectional Security Threats