S. Korean military plane carries 220 people from Israel

A South Korean Air Force transport aircraft with 220 passengers arrived at Seoul Air Base on Saturday from Israel, where Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out sudden airstrikes. The South Korean government prioritized its citizens and provided the rest of the seats to international evacuators including Japanese nationals for humanitarian reasons. Also in April after the diplomatic ties between Seoul and Tokyo were normalized, South Korea’s ‘Operation Promise’ evacuated South Korean citizens along with Japanese people from the worn-torn Sudan of North Africa.

According to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a KC330 Cygnus transport airplane landed on Seoul Air Base in Seongnam on Saturday morning with 220 South Korean, Japanese and Singaporean passengers onboard. Departing from South Korea on Friday morning, the multi-purpose air refueling aircraft arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel at 2:15 a.m. on Sunday. A total of 163 South Korean nationals, consisting of 81 long-term residents and 82 short-term travelers, went on board.

The aircraft also welcomed 45 Japanese nationals and six Israeli and French people, who are their family members, and six Singaporeans. “We found 80 seats available even after giving seats to South Korean nationals who asked for help,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “For the sake of humanitarian assistance, we proposed to the Japanese Embassy in Israel and other agencies on Thursday that we let citizens of our neighboring countries join.”

Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Yoko Kamikawa told her South Korean counterpart, Park Jin, on the phone on Sunday morning that Tokyo was highly grateful that Seoul helped 51 Japanese citizens and their families return home safely, pledging to closely cooperate in case of any similar emergency. “Japan sincerely thanks South Korea for providing aid to Japanese citizens,” Minister Kamikawa told the press.


Hyo-Ju Son hjson@donga.com