President Lee: "204 Koreans Stranded in Middle East Return Safely on Military Transport Aircraft... A Whole-of-Government One-Team Achievement"

[Financial News] President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea stated on the 15th, "Two hundred and four of our citizens, who had been stranded due to the recent situation in the Middle East, have returned home safely on a military transport aircraft."
President Lee wrote this in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that afternoon, calling it "good news."
President Lee noted, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff (ROK JCS), the ROKAF, as well as our embassies on the ground, including the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and our missions in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Kuwait, and Lebanon, and even the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA), which took part in the government’s joint rapid response team, all joined forces." He stressed that this was "a meaningful achievement made possible by a whole-of-government one-team effort."
He went on to say, "I would like to thank everyone involved who worked tirelessly day and night under difficult conditions to ensure the success of the operation. I extend my deepest respect for your hard work and dedication," adding words of encouragement: "You have truly gone through a lot."
Earlier, the government announced that a single KC-330 Cygnus multi-role aerial refueling and transport aircraft of the ROKAF, carrying 204 Korean nationals, 5 foreign family members, and 2 citizens of Japan—a total of 211 people—landed at Seoul Air Base at 5:59 p.m. that day.
The Cygnus departed South Korea on the morning of the 14th and arrived in Riyadh, KSA, in the afternoon (local time). That evening, it took the passengers on board and departed for South Korea.
For this mission, named "Operation Desert Shine," the government sought overflight cooperation from around ten countries along the transport route and dispatched a rapid response team to the region, led by Lee Jae-woong, former Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea.

cjk@fnnews.com Choi Jong-geun Reporter