The government has dispatched a military aircraft and a naval vessel to evacuate Korean citizens from strife-torn Sudan, it said on Sunday.
Elite Army and Air Force special forces have arrived in neighboring Djibouti, while the Navy's Cheonghae unit is also heading to the area in case an alternate plan is needed.
The Defense Ministry said, "An Air Force C-130J Super Hercules transport plane departed from Gimhae International Airport last Friday and landed safely in Djibouti at around 5:20 p.m. the next day."
Around 50 Korean troops, including the 707th Special Mission Group and Air Force Combat Control Team members, will be tasked with safely boarding Korean nationals onto the transport plane to be flown back to Korea. Khartoum International Airport in Sudan's capital is closed, so the plane is standing by at a U.S. base in Djibouti, the Joint Chiefs of Staff here said.
All 28 Korean nationals currently in Sudan were evacuated to the Korean Embassy in Khartoum and are apparently being moved to another safe location. None has been harmed, according to the Foreign Ministry.
The Cheonghae unit has been dispatched from Salalah Port in Oman, where it is conducting its mission, to Port Sudan, a port city in eastern Sudan, to help the Koreans in case an air evacuation is not possible. But the city is 800 km from the capital Khartoum -- too far for them to use land routes.
The government is also considering withdrawing the embassy from Sudan.
