Seoul, 14 November 2013 – The South Korean government, which has pledged to US$5 million in comprehensive assistance to aid the survivors and victims of the Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), has called for more support for the Philippines, according to reports monitored by the Embassy.

The amount was decided at a joint private-public meeting on emergency relief operations overseas held by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Tuesday, 12 November 2013 to finalize its comprehensive assistance plan. Second Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul chaired the meeting, which was attended by the relevant government ministries as well as business and non-government organizations.

In addition to the humanitarian assistance, the Council agreed to dispatch by Friday, 15 November 2013, the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) composed of 20 medical personnel, 14 paramedics, 4 staff members of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and 2 MOFA officials via military aircraft.

The participants to the meeting were: the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the National Emergency Management Agency and the Korea Coast Guard. The attendees from the private sector included those from the Export-Import Bank of Korea, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Korean Red Cross, the Korea NGO Council for Overseas Development Cooperation and the Federation of Korean Industries.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said his government should mobilize additional support, such as official development aid programs, for the typhoon victims at a weekly policy coordination meeting.

“The Philippines is a close ally of South Korea which took part in the Korean War, a home country of mothers of many multicultural families here and a valuable partner for shared growth,” Korea’s head of government said. “We have to do our best to help the people there to overcome the hardships.”

Korea hunkered down to consider humanitarian assistance as soon as government work resumed on Monday, 11 November 2013, when Deputy Foreign Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Shin Dong-ik convened an inter-agency meeting on emergency relief for the purpose. On late Monday, an advance interagency team of emergency relief officers was dispatched to Cebu to check on damage to ROK nationals and to ensure their safety.

MOFA has set up an emergency response headquarters, led by a Counselor of the ROK Embassy to the Philippines, in Cebu.