The Unification Ministry will set up a crisis management organization to prepare for emergency situations between the two Koreas.

The ministry said on Sunday that it has revised its organizational regulations to establish a new department to respond to contingencies on the Korean Peninsula.

According to the new regulations, the department will devise preparations for contingencies and to establish and oversee comprehensive training plans to respond to those situations. The new department will coordinate plans for the Eulji Exercise, which is to prepare against an invasion by North Korea.

Also transferred to the new unit will be duties for the planning, control and coordination of North Korea-related national crisis management, as well as for national emergency situations.

The ministry has been making the case for the necessity of such an organization following the North’s attack on South Korea’s Cheonan naval vessel and Yeonpyeong Island.