Minister Cho Hyun of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will depart for Nepal on the 5th to visit the Nepal flood site, personally oversee the search and rescue of Korean nationals, and encourage personnel responding on the ground.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Minister Cho will visit Nepal from the 5th to the 7th and hold a South Korea–Nepal foreign ministers' meeting with Nepal's Foreign Minister Sishir Kanal.
In the talks, Minister Cho is set to ask the Nepalese authorities to actively cooperate in the ongoing search and rescue operations for Korean nationals on the ground. Earlier, on the 27th and 31st of last month, Minister Cho spoke by phone with Minister Kanal and requested focused searches in areas presumed to be where the missing Koreans are.
The visit follows the massive flooding on the 26th of last month in Nepal's Rasuwa region, which cut off contact with nine Korean nationals. They were reportedly working at a local hydropower plant construction site.
Immediately after the incident, the government dispatched a government joint rapid response team to the area and additionally deployed the 44-member Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) to conduct search operations with Nepalese authorities.
While on site, Minister Cho will meet members of the rapid response team and KDRT to directly check on the search and rescue situation and encourage the personnel.
Meetings with the families of the missing are also planned. Minister Cho will meet families staying in Nepal to share updates on the search and hear their difficulties. He will also meet with representatives of Korean corporations on the ground to discuss the damage and safety measures.
After completing the Nepal schedule through the 7th, Minister Cho will travel to France to accompany President Lee Jae-myung on the state visit.