More than 1,000 South Korean military, police and emergency personnel joined rare defence drills on December 27 that simulated an attack by North Korea on Seoul, to allay fears that the city is in striking distance of Pyongyang’s weapons or a covert attack.The exercise, which simulates attacks on a major water supply facility, telephone network stations, and other facilities, comes amid heightened tension after the North tested an intercontinental ballistic missile and launched its first military spy satellite, with the neighbouring countries reinstating last month some military measures eased after a 2018 pact.”There was a big lesson for us when Israel’s world-class advanced defence system helplessly buckled under a surprise attack by Hamas armed with conventional artillery and primitive means,” Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon said at a meeting.Seoul’s distance of just 38 km from the military border with the North makes it particularly susceptible to an attack at any time, Oh added.