Foreign minister arrives in Nepal to discuss search-and-rescue efforts with counterpart in Kathmandu

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun arrived in Nepal on Saturday to begin a three-day visit as he prepares to meet with his Nepali counterpart, Shisir Khanal, to discuss Seoul's support for search-and-rescue efforts following devastating floods.

"I will have talks with Nepal's foreign minister tomorrow and also meet with other Nepalese government officials," Cho told reporters after arriving at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. "With the Nepalese government, I will discuss issues regarding rescue efforts and also our long-term cooperation in areas including reconstruction."

According to Seoul's Foreign Ministry, Cho also plans to meet with the families of the missing Koreans.

Nine Koreans — six employees of Doosan Enerbility and three of Korea South-East Power — went missing on Aug. 26 after massive floods and landslides hit the country's Rasuwa District near the border between Nepal and the Tibet region of China while working at a hydropower plant construction site.

Cho said he will ask for Nepal's support to facilitate and intensify search efforts for the missing nationals during his talks with Khanal, with the two sides also expected to discuss support measures for the recovery of the affected areas and other issues of mutual concern.

"I will do my best," Cho said. "I promise to speed up search efforts for our missing nationals so that they can be rescued alive."

Cho also plans to encourage the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) working at the disaster site and meet with officials from the companies, which are conducting their own search efforts, the ministry said.

The KDRT, dispatched by the government to support search-and-rescue operations, is working with Nepalese authorities and corporate response teams, using helicopters, drones, search dogs and other equipment to find the missing people.

After completing his visit, Cho is expected to travel directly to France to accompany President Lee Jae Myung on his state visit, according to officials.

More than 1,200 people have been killed and nearly 6,000 remain missing as of Wednesday, according to foreign media reports.

Later on Saturday, the Nepalese military announced that a joint rescue team of Nepalese army troops and Korean disaster specialists rescued a Chinese man from the same hydropower plant construction site where the nine missing Koreans had been working.

The Chinese man was found inside a 225-meter-long (738-foot-long) tunnel and was later transported to a military hospital by a helicopter. He reportedly told the KDRT that there had been another person nearby, though he did not know whether the person was alive. He is the ninth survivor saved by the KDRT since it was established in 2007.

The joint team also recovered six unidentified bodies from the site, with the KDRT also announcing that it found one unidentified body.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG, YONHAP [[email protected]]