黑料社

Jecheon, South Korea 鈥� If North Korea unleashes a nuclear attack on the South, architecture professor Lee Tae-goo has a plan: he鈥檒l retreat to his purpose-built bunker and stay underground for at least two weeks to avoid radiation poisoning.

With thick concrete walls, steel-reinforced doors, and an air purification system, Lee says his shelter, buried under a meter (three feet) of earth, could keep him safe from a nuclear disaster and withstand a direct hit from a conventional missile.

Built on his property in Jecheon city about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of the capital Seoul, the government-funded bunker is part of a campaign by Lee to get South Koreans to make preparations for a nuclear fallout more seriously.

鈥淛ust 100 kilometers away from here we have North Korea, from which biological or nuclear missiles could fly,鈥� Lee told AFP.

READ: South Korea president vows to build strong readiness against North Korea threats

He said he was also extremely concerned about a Fukushima-style meltdown at one of South Korea鈥檚 aging nuclear reactors.

鈥淪outh Koreans have not been required to build personal shelters for ages. There鈥檚 a lack of public shelters and in many cases they鈥檙e far away,鈥� he added.

Since the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, Seoul has remained technically at war with Pyongyang, and both sides routinely accuse each other of 鈥減rovocations鈥� that could tip them back into open conflict.

Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, and leader Kim Jong Un has recently ramped up work on weapons programs banned by the UN, including staging drills it claimed simulated showering South Korea with tactical nukes.

Although Seoul鈥檚 military maintains what it calls an 鈥渦tmost readiness鈥� for an attack, Lee said most civilians have forgotten the war and are not prepared.

鈥楩irst-class shelters鈥�

South Korea has a network of more than 17,000 bomb shelters nationwide, according to interior ministry data, with over 3,000 of them in Seoul.

READ: North Korea fires missile over Japan, stopping trains and sparking warning message

The city鈥檚 subway stations double as public air raid shelters but they are not nuclear-safe.

In the 1970s, the country had a law requiring buildings over a certain size in major cities to have a basement, which would serve as a bunker in war.

But in Seoul, due to soaring property prices, most private buildings have converted those basements into parking space or the dank subterranean flats made famous by Oscar-winning movie 鈥淧arasite.鈥�

This has Lee, a mild-mannered professor at Semyung University, concerned.

South Korea has a 鈥渇irst-class shelter system for the military鈥�, he said, but 鈥渢he civilian side lags far behind.鈥�

Lee鈥檚 鈥渕odel鈥� bunker cost around 70 million won ($48,000) 鈥� excluding labour costs 鈥� to construct, which was covered by a ministry of education research grant that he applied for and won.

He said he hopes it will inspire others to follow suit, adding that he has had many enquiries about his blueprint, including from officials from South Korea鈥檚 Air Force, who inspected his bunker earlier this year.

For urban high-rise apartment dwellers, Lee recommends retro-fitting basement parking lots to double as bunkers, and says the government should nuclear-proof subway tunnels.

Secret

Although many in South Korea have grown numb to the constant threats from Pyongyang, there are signs that more citizens like Lee are taking matters into their own hands.

One local company, Chumdan Bunker System, started selling nuclear-proof bunkers at a Seoul showroom in 2017 鈥� the year that Kim conducted his last nuclear test.

READ: North Korea maintains hard line against 鈥榓udacious initiative鈥�

Chumdan鈥檚 website advertises 鈥渁n underground bunker capable of withstanding nuclear explosions, radiation, chemical agents.鈥�

But the company told AFP that while they were seeing growing interest in their products, this had not yet translated into sales growth.

鈥淭here has been an increase in online traffic to our website but the number of actual orders remain the same,鈥� an Chamdan employee told AFP.

Lee said people who construct nuclear-proof bunkers prefer to keep them secret, fearing they will be inundated with requests from friends, family and neighbors for shelter during an emergency.

鈥淓ven when I built this bunker, all these people were telling me they鈥檇 come if the country comes under attack. But this place can only fit 12 people,鈥� he said.

RELATED STORY

North Korea may carry out more than one nuclear test, experts say