Lee to hold emergency meeting to discuss rescue efforts for Koreans missing in Nepal flood

President Lee Jae Myung was scheduled to convene an emergency meeting on Thursday to deliberate on safeguarding the wellbeing of numerous Korean laborers adversely affected by severe floods in Nepal, according to the presidential office. The Korean leader had previously canceled a previously arranged session with his high-ranking officials in the afternoon to instead hold the urgent assessment gathering, as reported by the presidential spokesperson, Kang Yu-jung.

The catastrophic floods impacted both China and Nepal on Wednesday, resulting in over 150 fatalities so far and hundreds remaining missing. As of Thursday, nine Koreans — all personnel of Korean enterprises operating in Nepal — were still unaccounted for, and the government was gearing up to dispatch an emergency response team to assist in the search for the nationals.

The day prior, Lee had instructed the government to undertake every possible measure to locate the missing Koreans by mobilizing all available resources. Subsequently, Cheong Wa Dae has also postponed Lee's scheduled lunch meeting with ruling party lawmakers, originally planned for Friday.