As the death toll and number of missing persons from the catastrophic floods in Nepal soar into the thousands, South Korea, the U.S., and Japan have reached an agreement to jointly provide emergency relief and disaster recovery support for large-scale disasters occurring abroad.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday that the second trilateral meeting on overseas disaster response cooperation between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan took place in Tokyo. This follows the initial meeting held in July.
The meeting brought together experts in diplomacy, defense, and disaster response from the three nations to discuss collaborative strategies, including methods for rapid information sharing during overseas disasters. The countries pledged to maintain close consultations to ensure effective overseas disaster response in the future.
While this meeting was not specifically convened in response to the Nepal floods, it’s likely that the situation was discussed, given its status as a major ongoing overseas disaster.
In related news, nine South Korean nationals remain unaccounted for since the floods struck on August 26. They were working at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Plant construction site in the Rasuwagadhi region. In response, the government has deployed a 44-member Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) and a 20-member joint rapid response team to the area. These teams are conducting search operations using helicopters, drones, and ground searches in collaboration with the Nepalese military.