Seoul, March 15 (Jiji Press)–South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that 211 people, including two Japanese, have been evacuated from the Middle East on a South Korean military transport aircraft. This came after Japan earlier this month transported South Korean nationals from the region on a flight chartered by the government for the evacuation of Japanese nationals. In 2024, Japan and South Korea signed a memorandum on mutual support for the evacuation of their citizens in the event of an emergency in a third country. The Japanese government said Wednesday that South Koreans were among those who fled the Middle East, where tensions are flaring following the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, aboard a chartered flight that arrived at Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, adjacent to Tokyo, the same day after departing from the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. The flight marked the first evacuation of South Korean nationals by Japan based on the bilateral cooperation agreement. This time, the South Korean military plane carrying evacuees, mainly South Koreans, left Riyadh on Saturday afternoon and landed at an airport near Seoul on Sunday afternoon. Those aboard the airplane had stayed in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait or Lebanon. They moved to Riyadh by bus or through other means to board the South Korean military plane after being stranded due to reasons such as the closure of international airports in Middle East countries amid the escalating tensions. The evacuation of the two Japanese nationals using the aircraft was decided through talks between the South Korean and Japanese embassies in Saudi Arabia. One of the South Korean evacuees has Japanese citizenship as well. In a social media post Sunday, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expressed her gratitude to South Korean government and military officials for evacuating the Japanese nationals using the military aircraft. Meanwhile, a total of 16 South Koreans and others were evacuated on Japanese government-chartered flights operated Wednesday and Friday, respectively. Takaichi thanked related Japanese and South Korean officials for this. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung at a cabinet meeting Tuesday instructed relevant ministers to ensure the safe evacuation of all people. Based on the instructions, the country’s foreign and defense ministries laid the groundwork for dispatching a military aircraft to the Middle East. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
2 Japanese Flee Middle East on S. Korean Military Plane
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