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| Korea |
| University Games on chemical terror alert |
| 2003-08-21 |
| Police tightened security at the world university games in South Korea on Thursday after a tip-off that Islamic radicals could launch a chemical weapons attack on the venues. I’ve never heard of these games before. More than 7,000 athletes and officials from more than 170 countries are set to participate in the event, including 137 athletes from the United States and 99 from Britain. Sounds like the kind of target they’d go for. Police had heightened surveillance and stepped up checks on vehicles around venues in Taegu city in response to the alert, the South Korean Environment Ministry said in a news release. "We received a tip from a governmental agency that the Universiade games is a possible target for an Islamic terrorist attack. All our security is on high alert," an official from the National Intelligence Service told Reuters. They’ve had plenty of practice. The Environment Ministry said an anti-terrorist squad, including a special chemical-weapons team, would be in place to respond to any attack during the games but that the extra measures were just precautionary. "Security was a crucial issue at the 2002 (soccer) World Cup, as at any international event," Choo Jon-ho, chief of the university games security division, said. "But these days we have to pay closer attention to chemical terror threats like with anthrax." I don’t think there is a big islamic community in South Korea for terrorists to hide in, they have to enter as tourists or business men. There’s no easy border to sneak across. A no-fly zone was set up around Taegu World Cup Stadium for Thursday’s opening ceremony, while air traffic has been restricted to regular commercial flights over venues until the games end on August 31. "We do not want the crowds to get scared by aircraft," a South Korean air force official told Reuters. "We have military posts established around the venues with hand-held missiles in the case that the venues are attacked (by aircraft)." And the S.K. Army will shoot first and ask questions later. A defence ministry spokesman said the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001 were a factor in limiting air traffic. "Of course, those kinds of things affect our plans. We have a special plan for the university games," he said, declining to give details. "I can say no more." On the ground, police have restricted the access of vehicles carrying dangerous materials within five kilometres (three miles) of the venues. Security has also been heightened around the North Korean team’s accommodation. Nobody gets in or out, mostly out. A 31-year-old man was detained this week after police found weapons in the back of his car as he tried to park at the official games hotel in Taegu. Probability of sucessful attack here, by outside islamic terrorists at any rate, is low. This is not a soft target. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 Damm,I forgot about the red light districts that the GIs hangout in. That would be a place for a Bali style attack. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-8-21 9:59:08 PM |
| #2 I dunno. They're are being held in Korea. And that kimchee can be pretty rude. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-8-21 9:58:59 PM |
| #1 I don't know about the rest of Korea, but there is a mosque and a bunch of Pakistanis in the I'taewon "entertainment" district in Seoul just up the street from Yonsan (USFK HQ) |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-8-21 7:57:49 PM |