Japan Helps S. Koreans Evacuate from Middle East

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese government-chartered flight carrying South Korean nationals, along with Japanese evacuees from the Middle East, arrived at Narita International Airport near Tokyo on Wednesday. This marked the first application of a memorandum of understanding, signed by the Japanese and South Korean governments in September 2024, that stipulates the protection of each other’s citizens in the event of an emergency in a third country. According to Japan’s Foreign Ministry, the flight from Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, carried 172 people who had been staying in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar, including 11 South Korean nationals and one other foreign citizen. At a press conference on the day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara noted that Japan and South Korea have cooperated in evacuating their citizens since before the 2024 memorandum was concluded. The top government spokesman said that Japan is also offering extra seats on its chartered flights to Australia, Canada, and other like-minded countries that have exchanged similar documents. On Wednesday, another Japanese government-chartered flight arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, carrying a total of 276 Japanese nationals and their family members from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The latest flights were the third and fourth chartered by the Japanese government amid the deteriorating situation involving Iran. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]