Check the dates and drill types of Korea's second-half 2026 safety drill involving 236 organizations

A yellow unbranded safety helmet, a folded blank sheet of paper, a small black flashlight, a closed silver laptop and a sage mug on an oak desk by a window

What are the dates, and how many organizations take part?

The exercise runs from Monday, October 19 to Friday, October 30. The ministry says 236 organizations take part, including central government bodies, local governments and public institutions.

The press release carried an online embargo of 12 p.m. on October 18 and a print date of the morning papers on October 19. The ministry's website registered it on October 19, and both the post and its attached PDF were checked that day.

Which disasters does the drill focus on?

The material names four social disaster types that it calls likely in recent years: wildfires, road disasters, performance venue disasters and crowd crush. It says each participating organization analyzed local characteristics and past disasters to pick a high-frequency, high-risk scenario.

Four points get the closest check. They are the ability to handle compound disasters, minimizing casualties through evacuation drills with residents, actual mobilization of disaster management resources, and the link between drills, manuals and real responses.

What scenarios do individual organizations use?

The release gives three examples. A total of 52 cities, counties and districts, including Sancheong County in South Gyeongsang, which the release says was declared a special disaster area after last March's major wildfire, drill on stopping early spread and evacuating residents quickly.

Korea Oil Pipeline Corporation assumes a wildfire, an oil tank fire and an oil leak at once. It checks how to restore energy supply, a core national function, and protect residents together with local governments. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Seoul's Seocho District assume a building collapse after a fire at a performance venue.

When and where do the drills take place?

A reference table in the attached PDF lists a lead organization and date for each type. The same section notes that some schedules may change depending on each organization's circumstances.

Type	Lead organization	Date	Location	Organizations listed for the type
Critical infrastructure outage	Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport	October 22	Ministry situation room, Gimhae International Airport	7
Performance venue disaster	Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism	October 22	Ministry conference room, Seoul Arts Center	20
Road disaster	Daejeon Metropolitan City	October 23	Daejeon situation room, Anyoung Community Sports Park	11
Wildfire	Korea Oil Pipeline Corporation	October 27	Head office meeting room, Pangyo oil depot	58
Crowd crush	Daejeon Yuseong District	October 29	District disaster situation room, around World Cup Stadium Station	13
Railway disaster	Airport Railroad	October 29	Geomam office disaster situation room, Gyeyang Station	8

All entries come from the reference table in the ministry's attached PDF. Its notes give the number of organizations running each drill type.

How do 236, 52 and 58 differ?

236 is the total number of organizations in the second-half drill. 52 is the number of cities, counties and districts the main text says will drill on early wildfire response, and 58 is the number of organizations the reference table lists under the wildfire type.

The counts for the six types in the reference table add up to 117. The release does not give a breakdown of the remaining organizations by type or explain how this sum relates to the total of 236 organizations.

How will the results be used?

The ministry says it supported participating organizations with a central evaluation team led by private-sector experts to find risks and improve drill scenarios. It plans to assess the whole drill against evaluation indicators and strengthen a feedback system that revises crisis management manuals according to the findings.

Kim Kwang-yong, head of the Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters, was quoted as saying the drill is a process for checking that response systems work before a disaster happens and for filling gaps. The material does not say when or how evaluation results will be released.

What should you check next?

Because schedules can change, open the reference table in the attached PDF again during the drill period. For a drill in your own area or ways residents can take part, check your local city, county or district office's notices.

After the exercise ends on October 30, see whether results or follow-up notices appear on the ministry's press release board. The official material used here was checked on October 19, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do all 236 organizations drill on the same day?

The exercise runs from October 19 to 30, and the lead drill dates in the reference table fall between October 22 and 29. The ministry says some schedules may change depending on each organization's circumstances.

Are all 52 cities, counties and districts running wildfire drills?

The press release says 52 cities, counties and districts, including Sancheong County in South Gyeongsang, will focus on stopping early wildfire spread and evacuating residents. That does not mean all 236 organizations run wildfire drills.

Can ordinary residents take part?

Evacuation drills with resident participation are one of the checkpoints. The material does not say who can join or how, so check the notice from your local city, county or district office.

Sources & Verification Date

All materials have been verified from official announcements and may have changed since verification.