[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] "North Korea, Hands Off Biochemical Weapons"...Urgent Training Site

As Part of National Defense Training, Army 7th Corps
Biochemical Weapon Preparedness Training Site
This Year Includes Training to Reduce Soldiers' Fear

On the 24th of last month, at the Army 37th Division Engineer Battalion training ground in Jeungpyeong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, where the large-scale annual outdoor maneuver exercise called the Defense Training, hosted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was in full swing, the first thing that caught the eye was the temporary tents set up in various places. Medical personnel were on standby inside the tents. The scenario of the exercise that day focused on treating wounded soldiers and mass casualties in preparation for a situation where North Korea launches biochemical weapons during wartime. The purpose of this training was to quickly treat the injured and restore equipment damaged by biochemical weapons.

The Defense Training was created in 1994 to fill the gap after the wartime operational control was returned to South Korea, following the combined ROK-US exercises led by the ROK-US Combined Forces Command established in 1978. During the Moon Jae-in administration, the training was significantly scaled down but has been reinforced again under the current government. In this Defense Training, the Army divided into Blue and Yellow teams to focus on attack and defense in preparation for North Korea’s biochemical weapon attacks.

Army Divides into Blue and Yellow Teams for Biochemical Weapon Training

The scenario of the training on this day focused on the treatment of casualties and mass wounded that could occur if North Korea launched biochemical weapons in a wartime situation.

The time spent disinfecting biochemical weapons and providing emergency treatment must be minimized to increase the survival rate.

Outside the training ground, eight K-200 infantry fighting vehicles that had been hit by a biochemical weapon attack roared as they entered the unit one after another. When the armored vehicles stopped, soldiers wearing protective suits fully armed disembarked. The biochemical weapon alert that day was at level 4 of the Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) 5 stages. This stage requires full gear including protective suits, gas masks, and protective gloves.

Soldiers who were simulated to have gunshot wounds were also included. Medical unit personnel laid the wounded soldiers on stretchers used for patient transport and moved them to the tents. They checked the injured areas but could not remove the protective suits. This was because if the contaminated substances touched the wounds, it could be fatal.

They began slowly removing the gas masks and spraying disinfectant before taking off the protective suits. A soldier with a gunshot wound to the abdomen was moved to another tent as the bandage wrapped around his abdomen was exposed. U.S. military personnel also joined. The hands of soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 65th Medical Brigade stationed in Korea moved quickly. Although communication with the Korean soldiers was not smooth due to language barriers, treatment of the wounded proceeded swiftly with simple gestures. Minimizing the time spent disinfecting biochemical weapons and providing emergency treatment is crucial to increasing survival rates.

Sergeant Do Jiheon of the U.S. Forces Korea said, “I enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2018 and was assigned to U.S. Forces Korea last March, making this my first ROK-US combined exercise. Although training methods and equipment differ, it is a beneficial exercise because we can share information with each other.”

USFK soldiers took on the task of transporting soldiers in medical evacuation vehicles that can carry four patients.

If the wound area becomes contaminated with pollutants, it could potentially be life-threatening.

After emergency treatment, the wounded were transported using U.S. military medical evacuation vehicles. U.S. soldiers stationed in Korea took charge of loading soldiers onto medical evacuation vehicles that can carry four patients. On one side of the training ground, armored vehicle disinfection was in full swing. It looked like a car wash. A military official said, “The water pressure using disinfectant is about four times that of a typical car wash. If disinfection is not thorough, secondary contamination can occur.”

This year’s training also included processes to reduce soldiers’ fear and combat stress. This is because soldiers experiencing wartime situations for the first time can accumulate mental fatigue and lose combat effectiveness. Chaplain Captain Bae Ji-hong said, “I realized that healing soldiers’ minds during mass casualty treatment training is also important. I will contribute to strengthening soldiers’ mental resilience through faith.”

North Korea Estimated to Have Up to 1.24 Million Biochemical Weapons... Four Times the Area of Seoul Contaminated

This training was in response to North Korea increasing its production of biochemical weapons. According to the ‘Northeast Asia Security Situation Analysis’ published by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), North Korea possesses approximately 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical agents. Considering that one biochemical weapon uses 4 kg of chemical agents, the number of chemical shells ranges from 625,000 to a maximum of 1.25 million. This amount could contaminate an area of 2,500 km² (756.25 million pyeong), which is four times the size of Seoul.

The ROK-US alliance estimates that if North Korea loads 560 kg of VX gas, believed to have been used in the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, onto a Scud missile and strikes downtown Seoul, more than 200,000 casualties could occur. Therefore, alongside biochemical warfare countermeasures, preemptive strikes are also being prepared. The ROK-US forces are focusing on exercises that precisely target Pyongyang’s Yongbyon nuclear facility, key command centers, and major missile bases across North Korea, moving away from the traditional posture-strengthening exercises. They have selected 700 Joint Defense Point Intercept (JDPI) locations for simulated attacks.

The ROK-US alliance first applied ‘Operation Plan 5015,’ including JDPI, during the 2016 Key Resolve (KR) combined exercise. Operation Plan 5015 integrates ‘Operation Plan 5029’ for sudden changes in North Korea, ‘Operation Plan 5027’ for full-scale war, and peacetime plans for responding to localized provocations. It is known to include plans for countering North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) such as nuclear and missile threats, cyber warfare, and biochemical warfare. It also encompasses a ‘tailored extended deterrence strategy’ capable of preemptive strikes on North Korean nuclear and missile facilities, as well as the ‘4D Plan’ (Detect, Disrupt, Destroy, Defend).