Hwaseong hosts Gyeonggi Province's first Ulchi CPX field exercise

Hwaseong City hosted the "2026 Ulchi CPX Provincial Field Exercise" at the Hwaseong Agricultural Technology Center on Wednesday.

Gyeonggi Province organized the exercise and Hwaseong Special City co-hosted it, making it the province's representative Ulchi CPX field drill. Participants included Gyeonggi Province Gov. Choo Mi-ae, Hwaseong Special City Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun, the Capital Corps, the Combined Forces Command (CFC), the Ministry of Unification, police and fire departments, and the Korean Red Cross.

It was the first time the Gyeonggi Province representative Ulchi CPX field exercise has been held in Hwaseong Special City.

The exercise focused on verifying each agency's roles and response procedures for safely protecting and supporting North Korean refugees in a real crisis, while reviewing the inter-agency cooperation framework.

Conducted under the theme of "protection of North Korean refugees," the exercise comprised three parts: a policy presentation drill in the first segment and field exercises in the second and third. The policy presentation covered the reception and management of North Korean refugees, shelter operations and international cooperation measures. The field exercises reviewed the operation of temporary assembly points and the step-by-step response procedures of relevant agencies in crisis scenarios.

Military, police, fire, health and Red Cross agencies confirmed the duties each must carry out in a crisis, strengthening civilian-government-military-police cooperation to enable swift joint responses when real situations arise.

Hwaseong Special City Mayor Jeong said the exercise was "a combat-ready drill that examines the step-by-step response process — from policy measures to on-site action — based on a scenario involving North Korean refugees," adding that "what matters in an actual crisis is not only each agency performing its assigned role accurately, but also how quickly and organically those responses are coordinated." He said the city would review findings from the exercise to strengthen its emergency preparedness system and build its crisis-response capacity to protect the lives and safety of residents.