By Kang Shin-who
The government will create a new civil defense unit comprised of volunteers as a measure to boost the nation’s defense capability amid growing cross-border tensions.
In a report of New Year’s plans to President Lee Myung-bak at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said the new civil defense corps will consist of middle-aged men and women who do not belong to the incumbent Civil Defense Corps, along with technicians. The new defense group will be launched next September with some 3,000 volunteers.
They will help recovery and rescue operations and maintain communications systems during wartime and natural disasters. Female members will deal with various volunteer activities, such as providing free laundry and meal services to residents of disaster-hit areas.
All able-bodied men in South Korea are required to fulfill approximately two years of military service and serve in the reserves for seven years after completing their active duty.
Males aged 20-40 who were not drafted for military service or who completed reserve service are recruited for service in the Civil Defense Corps to protect the lives and property of civilians during wartime and natural disasters. Currently, the corps number some 3.93 million across the country.
The ministry also suggested other key polices such as establishment of a pre-warning system for financially unstable local administrations and the creation of about 50,000 new public jobs nationwide for the unemployed youth and the needy.
In addition, police will create a team of “anti-terrorism inspectors” to intensify surveillance on potential terrorist attacks.
The ministry will also bar financially unstable local administrations from issuing bonds and build a pre-warning system for detecting danger in the financial health of local administrations as an effort to help stabilize financial conditions of local governments.
It will also introduce a smartphone-based system for finding the location of lost children and elderly citizens on a real-time basis next year.
As a measure to encourage citizens to use bicycles as environment-friendly transportation, it will build a 225 kilometer-long national bike path and designate 10 cities to promote bike riding.
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