South Korea to build huge nuclear bunker as threat from North heightens

A civilian bunker capable of withstanding a nuclear attack is set to be built underneath a public housing complex in South Korea’s capital by 2028.

The metropolitan government and Seoul Housing and Communities Corp plan the shelter for 999 households designed to withstand nuclear, biological or chemical attacks, the official said on Monday, to guard against threats by the North.

The bunker in the basement of the housing complex in Seoul will span 2,147 sq m (2,568 sq yards), accommodate up to 1,020 people at a time, and be equipped for 14 days of survival.

The Seoul Shinmun newspaper, which first reported the plan, said it was the first such move by a local government in the face of a heightened nuclear threat from neighbouring North Korea.

At a massive military parade on Friday, North Korea displayed its latest ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to targets in South Korea or as far as the United States.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has said the most realistic path to lowering the risk from the North is to secure a freeze on its manufacturing of nuclear bombs and missiles, but Pyongyang has rejected diplomatic overtures for now.

South Korea has nearly 19,000 bomb shelters nationwide, more than 3,200 of them in Seoul, but the vast majority are not built to protect against nuclear, chemical or biological attacks.

They are mostly situated in subway stations or basements and parking garages in private apartments and commercial buildings designated as shelters with the consent of owners.