Non-Korean speakers will now be able to know what is going on when they hear air raid sirens in the middle of the day in Seoul.

The Seoul Metro said Wednesday they would announce the civil defense and other drills for terrorism, subway accidents, blackouts and fires in multiple languages including English, Chinese and Japanese, so that foreigners in the capital will know what’s happening around them and what they should do.

“The number of foreign visitors to Korea now reaches about 10 million (a year) and many of them take the subway in Seoul,” said a Seoul Metro official.

When the civil defense drill is conducted here, traffic stands still for 15 minutes with warning sirens while police officers order and direct people on the streets to nearby underground subway stations or shopping centers to take cover from hypothetical attacks.

The subway does not stop during the drill, but citizens at some designated stations put on gas masks to practice protecting themselves from a chemical attack, according to the official.

The foreign-language public announcement will start with the first civil defense drill of the year in March.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)