[Anchor]

One week after devastating floods struck Nepal, South Korea's emergency relief team arrived in the country early this morning (September 2). Equipped with state-of-the-art gear and rescue dogs, the team has officially launched search and rescue operations for missing persons, including nine South Korean nationals.

Kwon Min-kyu reports from Nepal.

[Reporter]

A gray aircraft lowers its altitude through thick fog and touches down on the runway.

Carrying 44 members of the emergency relief team, a Republic of Korea Air Force Cygnus transport aircraft departed from South Korea and arrived in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu early this morning.

One week after the massive floods, the Nepalese government approved the deployment of the relief team, making South Korea the third country—following China and India—to directly conduct relief operations on the ground in Nepal.

Comprising three Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, four Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) staff members, and 37 personnel from the National Fire Agency, the relief team will be deployed to search for missing persons, including nine South Koreans, and support flood recovery efforts.

Along with five rescue dogs, the team plans to fully mobilize advanced equipment, including high-resolution drones and DNA kits for identity verification.

[Lee Gyu-ho / Head of the Korea Disaster Relief Team: We have brought nearly 1,000 pieces of equipment, including search and rescue gear. When searching tunnels, we need to use endoscopes to look inside, and thermal imaging cameras are used to check for the presence of people...]

After arriving in Nepal, the emergency relief team held a joint meeting with the rapid response team to share the situation and discuss search operation plans.

They decided to set up their base camp in Battar, which offers easy access to the search areas, and dispatched 10 members of the emergency relief team ahead to the Ramche and Dhunche areas, where the rapid response team is currently conducting ground searches.

[Kim Min-jong / KOICA Team Leader for the Korea Disaster Relief Team: We will provide humanitarian assistance to the suffering people of Nepal and do our utmost to safely bring our citizens back home as quickly as possible.]

The relief team stated that it plans to strengthen cooperation with Nepalese authorities and focus all its efforts on search and rescue operations.

(Video Journalist: Seol Chi-hwan, Kang Si-woo | Video Editor: Cho Mu-hwan | Designer: Lee Ga-jin)