SEOUL--South Korea has released a report on its disaster relief activities in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
SEOUL--South Korea has released a report on its disaster relief activities in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
The deployment was the first time Seoul has sent a search-and-rescue team to Japan to assist in an emergency.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency, South Korea dispatched 107 team members and two search dogs. Working in Miyagi Prefecture and elsewhere, they located 18 bodies, the report said.
A South Korean advance party arrived in Japan on March 12, the day after the quake and tsunami struck. The main body--102 members--was scheduled to depart Seoul late on March 13.
However, the departure was delayed until the following morning. Difficulties in getting permission to land a military transport aircraft at a civilian airport--either at Narita or Fukushima--were blamed for the delay.
As a result, the main South Korean party didn't begin rescue operations until the morning of March 15, already outside the crucial 72-hour window when rescues are most likely.
Disaster prevention cooperation between Japan and South Korea began in 1998, but full-scale exchanges have been delayed by bilateral disputes, including spats over Japan's revisions of its history textbooks.
While the two nations have held meetings and other exchange activities on firefighting and disaster response, no joint drills have taken place.
Japan, the United States and South Korea held a joint public-private sector disaster prevention seminar in February 2008. Discussions were held on the use of the nations' troops in post-disaster operations.
However, because of the history between Japan and South Korea, any talk of troop dispatches between each other was avoided.
Discussions only envisioned scenarios in which both nations would send troops to a third country.
However, with the success of the South Korean deployment to Japan, government officials and others in Seoul are emphasizing the importance of cooperation between the two countries.