With anxiety about possible biological or chemical terror attacks growing, as USFK facilities and the 2002 World Cup could be the targets, the Ministry of Justice announced Sunday that immigration procedures had been reinforced to prevent the entry of 2,252 people, suspected of being linked to international terrorism, into the country. In addition the ministry will increase surveillance on illegal aliens from terrorism sponsoring countries, and conduct strict security inspections with the Korea Customs Service to ban the entry of bio-chemical substances.

The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs announced the same day that the 312th Civil Defense Exercise will focus on countermeasures in preparation for possible terror attacks, such as the evacuation practice from skyscrapers.

In addition, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has organized a ‘Health and Welfare Emergency Council,’ headed by Deputy Minister Lee Gyeong-ho, and the National Institute of Health has formed epidemiology research, prevention and investigation teams to facilitate immediate counter plans in the case of an attack with bio-chemical weapons, such as anthrax.

The United States Forces in Korea is considering including training to prepare for possible attacks in their civilian defense-training program, it was reported. USFK has enhanced the education program on counter-terrorist measures for personnel, embassy employees and their families after the terrorist attack on the US cities on September 11.

However, since USFK invested on counter-plans against bio-chemical warfare in 1998, it is not considering additional preparations. All members of US army serving in Korea have received anthrax vaccine on a regular basis since it first started prevention in 1999, the first among the US army worldwide. In addition, gas masks have been distributed to the entire armed forces and their families.

The Ministry of National Defense (MOD), Joint Chiefs of Staffs, and chemical, biological and radiological warfare protection units of the Army are reconfirming countermeasures for bio-chemical warfare, closely watching how the situation unfolds in the US. However, the military agencies have not made special announcements.

An MOD official said that the country is in the front line of bio-chemical threats, as North Korea possesses enormous amounts of chemical weapons, however, there hasn’t been appropriate counter-plan for the attack due to a lack of awareness. He added that even gas masks are not properly distributed, and he hopes the terror threat will raise more attention to preparation.

Customs at Incheon International Airport are conducting X-rays and open inspections on imported cargo and regular packages with unidentified contents or addresses, especially on white powdered substances, using drug and explosive search dogs, due to the cases of anthrax reported in the US.

(Yu Yong-won, kysu@chosun.com )