Evacuating Korea

I recently had a request by e-mail to post about what an American expat living in Korea should do in case war was to break out on the peninsula. Below I have posted my educated opinion on what to do in case a crisis was to break out on the Korean peninsula. I don’t consider myself an expert on this so take it for what it is worth.

1. The first thing you need to do when you arrive in Korea, is to register with the US Embassy. The US Embassy will e-mail you monthly updates and occasional travel advisories. Plus registering with the embassy lets them know you are in Korea and they can get information to you related to any possible hostilities on the peninsula.

2. Secondly, contrary to popular belief, a second Korean War on the peninsula more than likely would not be a surprise attack. Kim Jong-il will not just wake up one day and just decide to attack South Korea. He is a dictator that wants to stay in power and enjoy his booze, women, and his world’s largest porno collection. Any attack on South Korea would be a last resort type of thing for him. It will probably only happen if North Korea was on the verge of regime collapse and he had nothing to lose. In a scenario like this you would have a build up of tensions and plenty of warning signs of potential trouble. The US Embassy will issue a travel warning and request all US citizens to exit the country if they feel the tensions are running so high that war is a definite possibility. If this happens follow the embassy’s advice and get out of Dodge. Trying to ride out a second Korean War is not like riding out a hurricane. I recommend going all the way back to the states because just trying to ride out any potential conflict in Japan probably wouldn’t be wise either because they are well within range of North Korea ballistic missiles that can be equipped with chemical and biological weapons.

3. Now if hostilities do break out before you are able to exit the country the best thing to do is make sure you have some kind of survival kit. For example my wife had one luggage bag set aside that was filled with three sets of clothing, her chemical mask (issued by the Army), non-perishable food, a first aid kit, hygiene items, important paperwork, and few other miscellaneous items. She had to keep this kit together due to Non-combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO) requirements put forth by USFK. Semi-annually USFK held NEO drills and my wife could take her bag to the NEO collection point where they would inspect her bag and paperwork to make sure it meets NEO requirements. This same type of approach should be taken by non-USFK people living in Korea as well. The only thing you may find difficult acquiring is a gas mask, but ask around the black market areas and you will be able to find one.

4. The next thing you would need to decide on if an attack happens and you live in Seoul is whether or not to leave the city. Once again if you have enough forewarning get out of Seoul. The US embassy will have a plan put together to evacuate Americans, which is why I said before it is important to register with the embassy so they can track you and make sure you exit the country. If you wake up one morning and artillery shells are landing in Seoul, the best thing to do is to take your bag with your survival kit in it and get to the nearest bomb shelter. The nearest subway station will probably be your best bet for a bomb shelter. Talk to your landlord and they can inform you where the nearest bomb shelter location is. Don’t try to escape out of Seoul or run to the nearest US military installation. US military installations are one of the biggest targets for the North Korean forces, and the soldiers there will be in the process of evacuating and mobilizing for war. You won’t be of any help and won’t be any safer there. Your best bet is to sit tight in a bomb shelter and ride out the war. The second Korean War will be a short war, probably 1-2 weeks long. If you have a good survival kit together you should be able to ride it out. However, like I said before the possibility of you waking up one morning with artillery shells landing in Seoul is extremely unlikely and not worth losing sleep over.

Hopefully these thoughts help people form their own evacuation plans. Like I said before I cannot stress enough that you need to register with the US Embassy and closely follow their advice on what to do. There is plenty of good people there who are well trained to handle such emergencies as evacuating Americans from Korea.