The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced Sunday that it will conduct the "2026 Hwarang Exercise" to enhance integrated defense operation capabilities in rear areas during both wartime and peacetime and to establish an integrated defense posture among civilian, government, military, police, coast guard and fire service agencies.
The exercise runs sequentially from Sunday through November across six regional zones: Daegu-North Gyeongsang, Jeju, Busan-Ulsan, Gangwon, North Jeolla and North Chungcheong.
Officials from local governments, police, fire services and other related agencies, as well as personnel from nationally critical facilities, will also participate.
First launched in 1977, the Hwarang Exercise is an annual drill conducted at the provincial and metropolitan level under the supervision of the Integrated Defense Headquarters in accordance with the Integrated Defense Act. Its objectives include ▲familiarizing participants with integrated defense operation plan execution procedures, ▲raising security awareness among local residents, and ▲verifying the integrated defense posture of civilian, government, military, police, coast guard and fire service agencies.
"This year, we plan to create complex crisis scenarios that could actually occur, reflecting each region's characteristics, and focus on exercises in which all national defense elements — civilian, government, military, police, coast guard and fire service agencies — participate," the JCS said.