The second team of the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) arrived in Nepal on September 11. Following complaints from some families of missing persons about the first team's activities, attention is focused on how the second team will operate. However, the second team's scale is smaller, and advanced rescue equipment is expected to return to Korea with the first team, making the search for nine missing South Koreans challenging.
The KDRT second team reportedly landed at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu at 8:44 a.m. local time. They will continue their activities for seven days. The military transport aircraft carrying the second team also brought approximately 4 tons of relief supplies, valued at around 180 million won.
A government official explained to reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul the day before that the second team consists of two members each from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Fire Agency, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and a medical team. Unlike the first team, which focused on search and rescue, the second team is organized as a reconstruction and recovery team, following the Nepalese government's shift in focus from search efforts to reconstruction.
With the KDRT's reduced scale and the return of advanced equipment to Korea, there are concerns about difficulties in the search efforts. The first team, equipped with more personnel and advanced equipment, managed to rescue one Chinese survivor ten days after the flood but was unable to locate any of the missing South Koreans, who still number nine.
In response, some families of the missing persons have expressed their dissatisfaction. They held a press conference on September 9, criticizing the KDRT for declaring 'no significant findings' without conducting a substantial ground search and for now announcing the end of search efforts citing safety concerns.
In this context, President Lee Jae-myung reportedly instructed the government to listen to and respect the wishes of the families of the missing South Koreans after being briefed on their difficulties.
Meanwhile, the first team members are scheduled to return to Korea on a flight from Nepal later in the afternoon. Authorities expect them to arrive in Korea early on September 12. They were dispatched on September 2 for a ten-day mission. Although an extension was considered, it was ultimately rejected by the joint public-private emergency relief council.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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