Page 86 - 2018 Defense White Paper

of f icers and specialized training which help improving the systematic and preemptive disaster

response capabilities of disaster management off icers at all units of every echelon.

| Establishing a National Disaster Support System | The scale of disasters, such as

earthquakes, forest f ires, droughts, and heavy rainfall, as well as the size of damages caused
by them, has grown. Protecting the people’s lives and properties from large-scale disasters and
providing disaster recovery support for civilians have become key missions of the ROK Armed

Forces. Over the past f ive years, the ROK Armed Forces provided around 912,000 troops and
28,000 pieces of equipment for disaster reliefs and damage restoration activities.
The ROK Armed Forces actively carried out recovery support activities in forest f ires in

Gangneung, Samcheok, and Sangju regions in May 2017 as well as in torrential rains in the
Cheongju, Goesan, and Cheonan regions in July 2017. These activities greatly contributed to the
residents’ safe return to their homes at an earlier date and helped save the municipal governments’
recovery costs. In November 2017 when the earthquake hit Pohang, some 5,800 troops were

promptly deployed into the area, and they actively assisted in civilian damage recovery efforts
including the removal of debris from damaged walls and support for the restoration of roof tiles.

In addition, during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter
Olympics and Paralympics, the ROK Armed Forces’
efforts to assist the f lawless hosting of the Olympic
Games, including snow removal works and support

at individual events, received much encouragement
from both inside and outside the military. In a recent
example, in October 2018, around 6,000 troops were

deployed to the recovery ef forts on the damages Cleaning fire residue of the Gangneug-
Samcheok-Sangju forest fire (May 2017)
caused by Typhoon Kong-rey, and they removed
f loating materials from the beach and cleaned f looded

houses. In July and August during the heat wave, 2,000
troops and 867 pieces of equipment were dispatched
for sprinkling activities to reduce the temperature as

well as supply drinking and agricultural water.
The ROK Armed Forces’ support activities for Snow removal support at the opening
ceremony venue of the Pyeongchang
civilians not only help the people in diff iculties return Winter Paralympics (March 2018)

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