400,000 Police to Protect G20 Leaders at Summit

Police will mobilize 400,000 troops in the largest operation for national security and safety in their history at the November G20 summit in Seoul.

The National Police Agency said 100 days before the event’s opening Tuesday that it held a preparatory committee meeting for security and decided on a comprehensive security plan on these and other measures.

The plan entails strategies for security at the venue, safety measures at lodging facilities, countering terrorism for different threat levels, easing the public’s security fears due to the mobilization of massive forces, and the minimization of the people’s inconvenience.

A police operations headquarters will be set up September 1 and headed by the police agency’s vice commissioner, as well as a police security and defense squad to comprise emergency teams of elite police units and mobile riot troops nationwide.

Police will rent offices near the summit venue from 20 days before the event and operate a general situation room for police security and guarding, thus putting all officers on emergency alert to beef up defense and protection activities.

pjw@donga.com