KATHMANDU: South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, who is on a visit to Nepal, held discussions with Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal on Sunday on the ongoing search, rescue and relief efforts following the Bhotekoshi flood and various aspects of bilateral relations.
During the bilateral meeting held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singha Durbar, the two ministers also discussed efforts to search for South Korean nationals who went missing following the devastating Bhotekoshi River flood in Rasuwa on August 26.
Foreign Minister Khanal expressed gratitude to the South Korean government for deploying an inter-agency rapid response team and the Korea Disaster Relief Team to assist search and rescue operations in the flood-affected areas. He also thanked the Korean government for providing humanitarian assistance and relief materials to flood victims.
Stating that the Government of Nepal has accorded high priority to post-disaster reconstruction, Minister Khanal said future reconstruction would follow the concept of “Build Back Better”, with an emphasis on sustainable and resilient infrastructure to minimise damage from similar disasters in the future. He expressed confidence that South Korea would continue to support Nepal in this effort.
During the meeting, Foreign Minister Cho expressed his government’s willingness to support post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation in Nepal.
Cho said the international community had a historical responsibility towards countries such as Nepal that have suffered loss of life, property and infrastructure due to climate change. He stressed the need for Nepal and South Korea to work together to raise global awareness of the impacts of climate change and climate-induced disasters.
He said countries such as Nepal should jointly raise their voices at international forums, including the United Nations Climate Change Conference, on the challenges and losses caused by climate change. He also expressed his commitment to advocate for international financial assistance to Nepal to address losses and damage caused by climate change.
The two ministers expressed their commitment to continuing close cooperation to further strengthen and expand the long-standing friendly relations, mutual trust, understanding and cooperation between Nepal and South Korea and to take bilateral ties to new heights.
Nepal and South Korea cooperate in various areas, including labour, development partnership, trade, investment, technology and people-to-people relations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the search and rescue assistance, humanitarian aid and relief materials provided by South Korea during the recent disaster had further strengthened friendship and solidarity between the two countries.
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