It is time the civil defense system should be reborn as a powerful organization to respond to unexpected disasters and security threats from North Korea, and changed resolutely into a system getting along with the citizens in life to meet the needs of the time. In this context, this study presents a direction of development for the Korean civil defense system as follows: Firstly, the current legal fabric for civil defense and disaster management in South Korea is scattered among separate laws, and the disaster management affairs are overlapped or scattered among many agencies. Thus, for efficient disaster management, the overlapped and scattered disaster management works should be readjusted. Secondly, the Korean government set up "National Emergency Management Agency" as well as "the Disaster and Safety Management Office" in the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, but still these do not equal the dedicated organizations with the comprehensive security concept, which covers all natural disasters, manmade disasters, civil defense, critical infrastructure protection, cyber terrors and biological disasters aimed by advanced countries in the field of disaster prevention. Therefore, it is required to set up a dedicated organization for civil defense, and specialize its personnel. Thirdly, the civil defense system should be reset to infuse a sense of national security into the people about unexpected provocations from North Korea, and to protect the people from globalized terrors and various disasters. Lastly, the civil defense education and training system should clearly regulate its field and mission, and it should be established as the demand-focused education and training in life. The education and training should be developed and operated in accordance with the real situation in the future.