South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun Visits Nepal Amid Flood Crisis

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun touched down at Tribhuvan International Airport on Saturday, stepping onto Kathmandu’s rainy streets with a clear, urgent purpose – to help find nine of his countrymen who vanished in the Bhotekoshi floods and landslides that ripped through Nepal’s Rasuwa district last month.

His itinerary is short but packed. First up, a meeting with Nepal’s foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, followed by talks with other senior officials. Cho told reporters he would “discuss rescue efforts and long‑term cooperation on reconstruction,” a line that felt almost rehearsed, yet the gravity behind it was unmistakable.

The missing nine are not just statistics. Six of them worked for Doosan Enerbility, and three were employees of Korea South‑East Power, all stationed at a hydropower construction site near the Nepal‑Tibet border when the torrents struck on August 26. Their families are still waiting, clutching hopes that a coordinated search can bring them home.

Cho’s delegation includes the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT), a group that’s been flying helicopters, sending drones, and even deploying search dogs into the treacherous terrain. “I will do my best,” the minister said, promising to speed up the hunt – a promise that, while heartfelt, sits on a precarious hill of logistics and weather.

In a bittersweet twist, Nepal’s army, working side‑by‑side with South Korean specialists, managed to pull a Chinese worker to safety from the same construction zone. The joint team also recovered six unidentified bodies, while the KDRT reported finding another unknown corpse. Each discovery adds another layer to the grim tally.

Numbers from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) are still shifting. As of the latest 6 p.m. update, the death count sits at 1,331, with roughly 5,000 people still unaccounted for – including about 2,000 in Rasuwa alone. Among the missing are 100 security personnel, government officials, and 589 foreign nationals. So far, rescue crews have saved 13,101 people, 304 of whom are foreigners.

Cho’s visit isn’t just about this crisis. He’s also set to hop on to France, joining President Lee Jae‑Myung on a state visit. It’s a diplomatic sprint that underscores how intertwined emergency aid and international relations have become.

For Nepal, the immediate task is clear: keep searching, keep rescuing, and begin the painstaking process of rebuilding homes, roads, and that vital hydropower project. For South Korea, it’s about bringing its citizens home – a mission that now has the weight of a nation’s concern on its shoulders.