South Korea plans to build the capital Seoul's first civilian bunker capable of withstanding a nuclear attack under a public housing complex by 2028 as a defense against North Korea, a city official said, quoted by "Reuters".
The metropolitan government and the Seoul Housing and Community Corporation plan for the shelter to be for 999 households, designed to withstand nuclear, biological or chemical attacks.
The bunker in the basement of the housing complex will cover 2,147 square meters, can accommodate up to 1,020 people at a time and will be equipped for 14 days of survival.
Local media note that this is the first such move by a local government in the face of a heightened nuclear threat from neighboring North Korea.
In a large-scale military parade held on October 10, North Korea displayed its latest ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads to targets in South Korea or as far as the United States.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has said that the most realistic way to reduce the risk from the North is to secure a freeze on the production of nuclear bombs and missiles, but Pyongyang has so far rejected diplomatic proposals.
South Korea has nearly 19,000 bomb shelters nationwide, more than 3,200 of them in Seoul, but the vast majority of them are not built to protect against nuclear, chemical or biological attacks.
They are mostly located in subway stations or basements and parking lots in private apartments and commercial buildings designated as shelters with the consent of the owners.