South Korea ready to support post-disaster reconstruction

Kathmandu, Sept. 6

Foreign Minister of South Korea, Cho Hyun, has said that his government was willing to provide the necessary support for Nepal’s post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts.

Ina meeting with Nepal's Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal at the latter's office at Singha Durbar on Sunday, he highlighted the international community’s historic responsibility for the loss of life, property and infrastructure suffered by countries such as Nepal as a result of climate change.

Minister Cho stressed the need for Nepal and Korea to work together to make the global community more aware and responsive to the impacts of climate change and the disasters it causes, the Secretariat of FM Khanal informed in a statement.

Likewise, Cho said Nepal and the Republic of Korea should jointly raise their voices at international forums, including the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP), on the challenges and losses faced by countries such as Nepal due to climate change.

According to the Foreign Ministry, he also pledged that South Korea would raise its voice in support of Nepal’s efforts to secure financial assistance from the international community for losses caused by climate change.

During the meeting, both foreign ministers expressed their commitment to continuing close cooperation to further strengthen and broaden the long-standing friendly relations, mutual trust, understanding and cooperation between the two countries, and to elevate bilateral ties to a new level.

On the occasion, the two ministers discussed on a range of issues, including the ongoing search, rescue and relief operations following the devastating Bhotekoshi floods in Nepal, as well as various aspects of bilateral relations.

They held serious discussions on the search and rescue efforts for Korean nationals who went missing following the devastating flooding of the Bhotekoshi River on August 26. Nine Korean nationals are said to be missing in the floods or trapped in the tunnel of Upper Trishuli 1 Hydropower Project.

On the occasion, FM Khanal expressed his gratitude to South Korea for deploying an inter-agency rapid response team and a Korea Disaster Relief Team to assist search and rescue operations in the flood-affected areas, and sending humanitarian assistance.

Noting that the government has accorded high priority to post-disaster reconstruction, Minister Khanal said reconstruction would be carried out in accordance with the concept of ‘build back better’, with a focus on developing sustainable and resilient infrastructure to minimise damage from similar disasters in the future.

Published in The Rising Nepal on 7 September 2026.