[Anchor]

President Lee Jae-myung postponed a scheduled meeting of senior secretaries at the presidential office today (the 27th) and instead presided over an emergency inspection meeting regarding public casualties caused by floods in Nepal. President Lee instructed that all available resources be mobilized with the mindset that there is no such thing as an overreaction when it comes to protecting the lives and safety of citizens.

Reporter Park Yerim has the details.

[Reporter]

An emergency inspection meeting regarding the flood damage in Nepal was held this afternoon at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Presiding over the meeting directly, President Lee Jae-myung mentioned that 9 South Korean nationals are missing and 10 are isolated due to the floods in Nepal, and instructed that all available resources be fully mobilized.

[Lee Jae-myung / President]: "I ask that you fully mobilize all available personnel and resources, centering around the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, related ministries, the local embassy, the rapid response team currently en route, and our relevant companies in the region."

He also emphasized that cooperation with the Nepalese government is crucial, repeatedly urging active cooperation through all diplomatic channels to ensure that necessary resources for search and rescue are deployed.

Last night, a meeting of the Overseas Korean Protection Headquarters was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Seoul, chaired by Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and attended by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korean National Police Agency.

Minister Cho stated that immediately upon learning that South Korean nationals had lost contact locally due to the floods in Nepal, he made an immediate request to the Nepalese authorities for rescue.

A government rapid response team consisting of 11 members—led by Lim Sang-woo, Consul General for Overseas Korean Protection, and including 4 officials from the Foreign Ministry, 5 from the fire department, and 2 from the police—headed to Nepal this afternoon.

[Lim Sang-woo / Head of the Government Rapid Response Team]: "We will do our utmost to ensure swift and safe search and rescue operations (for our citizens in Nepal)."

The response team departed from Incheon International Airport, transited through Hong Kong, and is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, this evening local time.

They plan to move to the flood-affected areas in Nepal and begin supporting search and rescue operations for the South Korean nationals.

(Camera Reporter: Jeong Sang-bo, Yoon Hyung | Video Editor: Nam Il)