28 Korean Nationals Escaping Sudan Arrive at Seoul Airport

Returning home on a Signus after traveling 1,170 km by a single large bus

Twenty-eight Korean nationals who escaped from Sudan, where the civil war intensified due to armed clashes between warlords, safely arrived at Seoul Airport around 4 p.m. on the 25th aboard the Air Force's KC-330 'Cygnus' aerial refueling aircraft.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Korean nationals in Sudan decided to move by large bus on the 23rd. The 28 nationals boarded one large bus at the Korean Embassy in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Although the local situation was so unstable that the future was unpredictable, making land travel quite risky, they referred to the fact that refugees from Saudi Arabia and Jordan, as well as UN staff, had traveled overland to Port Sudan.

They departed from Khartoum, Sudan's capital, in the morning (local time) and traveled approximately 1,170 km by land, arriving at around 2:40 p.m. the next day in Port Sudan, a northeastern port city of Sudan. The U.S. base, where the C-130J transport aircraft and KC-330 Cygnus aerial refueling aircraft assigned to carry the nationals were stationed, was about 1,200 km in a straight line from Khartoum, making an airlift operation practically impossible. In particular, Khartoum's airport was closed due to clashes between the two major warlords.

The nationals who traveled by land arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, across the Red Sea, aboard the Air Force C-130J 'Super Hercules' transport aircraft waiting in Port Sudan, and from there boarded the Cygnus aerial refueling aircraft for their return journey.

Initially, the Presidential Office stated in a briefing the previous night that among the 28 nationals who escaped Sudan, two who did not wish to return immediately would stay in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. However, at the last moment, these two reversed their decision and returned, making the total number of returnees 28.

Meanwhile, the South Korean government decided on the 21st to dispatch military transport aircraft to ensure the safety of the nationals. This evacuation operation mobilized the Army Special Warfare Command's 707th Special Mission Unit for counterterrorism, Air Force Combat Control Teams (CCT), and the Cheonghae Unit's Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin-class destroyer (DDH-II, 4,400 tons), deploying elite units from the army, navy, and air force.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.