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The Seoul Metropolitan Government has initiated discussions on establishing a civil-government-military defense system to respond to the escalating drone threats from North Korea. Last year, Seoul strengthened its protection measures by holding two consecutive security forums, the first of their kind among local governments.

On the 24th, Seoul announced that it held the "Seoul Security Forum" in the afternoon at the Seoul City Hall main conference room under the theme "Civil-Government-Military Cooperation Measures for Building a Mega City Anti-Drone System." Previously, amid rapidly changing international situations such as the Israel-Hamas war and the Russia-Ukraine war, Seoul held two security forums last year to assess North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities and high-power electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threats. The forums included discussions with military and firefighting officials, including the Capital Defense Command commander, as well as defense and security experts.

This forum was organized to share the threats posed by drones, global trends, and technological levels, and to discuss civil-government-military cooperation measures for building an anti-drone system in the mega city of Seoul. About 200 people attended the forum, including Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Seoul Metropolitan Council Chairman Kim Hyun-ki, Capital Defense Command Commander Lee Jin-woo, members of the Seoul Integrated Defense Council, security policy advisory groups, and experts in the anti-drone field.

At the event, Professor Kim Sung-woo (Army University), Professor Kim Ki-won (Daekyung University & Korea Defense Robotics Society), and Brigadier General Lee Man-hee (Commander of the 1st Air Defense Brigade, Capital Defense Command) presented on drone and anti-drone systems observed in recent wars and shared plans for building an anti-drone system tailored for a large city like Seoul. Following this, an expert panel discussion chaired by Dr. Cho Sang-geun (Professor at KAIST Institute for National Future Strategy and Technology Policy) included Kim Kwang-seok, Emergency Safety Planning Officer (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy), Colonel Kang Kyung-il (Defense Ministry Military Structure Innovation Officer), and Professor Shin Hee-jun (Kyungwoon University), who discussed development directions for building the anti-drone system.

Professor Kim Sung-woo assessed at the forum that unmanned aerial systems represented by drones and the corresponding anti-drone systems will become game changers determining the outcome of future battlefields, with their importance increasing further. He particularly noted that North Korea is likely to operate large numbers of balloons along with drones and unmanned aerial vehicles, as seen in the recent release of contaminated balloons, emphasizing the necessity of civil-government-military cooperation to build an anti-drone system.

Professor Kim Ki-won introduced recent drone threats and characteristics of anti-drone systems, proposing directions for establishing zoned anti-drone systems and intelligent, efficient anti-drone system operations using AI, aimed at building a mega city-type integrated civil-government-military anti-drone system. Brigadier General Lee Man-hee introduced trends in North Korean drone threats and the concept of air defense operations against drones, pointing out that military power alone has limitations in protecting all nationally important facilities. Additionally, designated discussants included Kim Kwang-seok, who addressed prerequisites for building Seoul’s anti-drone system; Colonel Kang Kyung-il, who emphasized strengthening Seoul’s "crisis response resilience" capabilities; and Professor Shin Hee-jun, who suggested enhancing integrated civil-government-military efforts tailored to regional characteristics by local governments.