South Koreans snap up war survival kits amid fears of looming conflict with the North

Demand for war survival kits is rising in South Korea as the annual autumn Chuseok holiday approaches amid the rising threat of conflict between Pyongyang and Washington.

Chuseok is a harvest festival when Koreans honour their ancestors and traditionally give each other food or hygiene-related gifts. Retailers suggest this year’s festivities could have more of a wartime theme.

“There has been a recent surge in demand for survival kits,” Hong Soon-chul, head of the marketing communications team at E-bay Korea, told the Korea Herald.

“We don’t advertise or market such items because it could raise unnecessary concerns, but the demand is out there,” he said.

Online shopping site, Auction, also reported the demand for combat rations had increased 77%, while portable radios jumped 46% between September 2-5, around the time that North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test.

Wartime survival kits would typically contain food rations, first-aid supplies, lightweight sleeping bags and hand-operated radios.

One shipping company headquartered in Seoul, already delivered such kits to its employees last week, reported the Yonhap news agency.

In an official announcement, it asked its workers to pick up their packages containing “emergency survival products necessary in the current situation in and out of our nation.”

“I was confused at first, but I thought it wouldn’t be bad to have a war survival kit at home after watching recent news,” an unnamed employee told Yonhap.

South Koreans, who would be caught in the middle any war between North Korea and America, have traditionally been sanguine about the risks.

But with warmongering rhetoric threatening mutual destruction flying between Pyongyang and Washington, the purchase of survival supplies in Seoul is a sign that nerves are starting to get frayed.

Seoul’s Interior and Safety Ministry has advised citizens to prepare at least one “go-bag” per family, which could sustain them for at least 72 hours.