Government rapid-response team departs Thursday afternoon

KOEN, Doosan Enerbility also sending personnel to Nepal

President Lee orders 'all available means' deployed

Lee cancels senior secretary meeting to monitor situation

Flooding in Nepal [Reuters]
Flooding in Nepal [Reuters]

South Korea is dispatching an 11-member joint government rapid-response team to Nepal after nine South Korean nationals lost contact and 10 others became stranded amid catastrophic flooding in the country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday the team — led by Im Sang-woo, the ministry's representative for overseas Korean protection and consular affairs — comprises four Foreign Ministry officials, five National Fire Agency personnel and two Korean National Police Agency officers. The team departed Thursday afternoon on a Cathay Pacific flight via Hong Kong to assist in the search and rescue of South Korean nationals.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun also plans to speak by phone with his Nepali counterpart soon to request cooperation in the search and rescue effort.

Cho made the announcement at a meeting of the Overseas Korean Protection Task Force he chaired Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. at the Foreign Ministry building in Seoul.

Nine South Koreans affiliated with Korea South-East Power (KOEN) and Doosan Enerbility have lost contact. Another 10 Doosan Enerbility employees have evacuated and are awaiting rescue alongside roughly 200 foreign workers, including Nepali nationals. Those who evacuated are not believed to be in serious danger.

At the meeting, Cho urged officials to spare no effort. "Foreign media reports suggest hundreds of people are missing from this disaster, so rescue operations are expected to face significant difficulties," he said. "I ask that the ministry headquarters and our embassy on the ground work closely with relevant agencies to do everything possible for the swift and safe search and rescue of our nationals."

He added that he expected many people in South Korea to be spending sleepless nights with worry. "We will stay in close contact with the companies involved and keep the families of those who have lost contact or are being evacuated fully informed of developments," he said.

According to industry sources, nine employees from Doosan Enerbility and KOEN who were at the Upper Trishuli-1 (UT) hydropower plant construction site in Nepal's Rasuwa region are missing.

The plant, for which Doosan Enerbility holds the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, is a $647 million, 216 MW project that was set to become Nepal's largest hydropower facility upon completion, supplying 20 percent of the country's electricity. Construction began in January 2022, with commercial operation planned to start after completion at the end of this year. The flooding has damaged the construction site, and the completion date is now expected to be significantly delayed.

In addition to Doosan Enerbility, KOEN and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have been involved in the project since its development phase. Of the nine South Koreans currently missing, six are Doosan Enerbility employees and three are KOEN employees.

On Wednesday, the number of missing Doosan Enerbility employees was reported as five, but one additional worker — a South Korean-Nepali dual national hired locally — was subsequently identified. The roughly 200 foreign workers, including Nepali nationals, who evacuated alongside the missing remain stranded at the site and have not yet been rescued.

Doosan Enerbility has assembled an on-site response team that includes Chief Executive Jeong Yeon-in, which departed Thursday afternoon. A company official said the firm would "make every effort to support the search and rescue of the missing in close cooperation with relevant authorities and project partners."

KOEN also plans to send headquarters staff to Nepal on Thursday to assist with rescue operations. Immediately after the incident, the company dispatched personnel from its local subsidiary in Kathmandu to the site. It has also activated an emergency response system under acting President Cho Young-hyuk and established an emergency task force.

KOEN said it is "building an emergency coordination framework with relevant agencies, including the local subsidiary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the South Korean Embassy in Nepal and Nepali military units."

President Lee Jae Myung issued an emergency directive Wednesday, ordering officials to "prioritize the lives and safety of our nationals and mobilize all available means to mount an all-out search and rescue effort."

Lee was expected to cancel a previously scheduled senior secretaries' meeting and instead convene a situation-review session.


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