Another three South Koreans were evacuated from Yemen by plane on Tuesday as security concerns have heightened following airstrikes against a militant rebel group there, Seoul's foreign ministry said.
The foreign ministry said that the three Korean residents in Yemen's capital Sanaa departed for Ethiopia on a U.N. plane earlier in the day following the evacuation of 10 Koreans made on Saturday.
Two diplomats will be re-located to an interim diplomatic mission to be placed on a South Korean Navy destroyer, named Wang Geon, in waters off the Gulf of Aden, according to the ministry.
"At the interim office, the two diplomats plan to provide necessary support to the remaining 23 Korean residents who opted not to leave Yemen," said a ranking official at the foreign ministry.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Gulf Arab nations launched air strikes against Shiite rebels, known as Houthi, which ousted Yemen's government and dissolved the parliament in early February. The militant group has expanded its influence following its seizure of the capital Sanaa in September.
Before the evacuation, a total of 38 Koreans were living in four different areas, including Sanaa and Taiz.
As security concerns are growing, many countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan have temporarily closed their embassies in Yemen.
The U.N. evacuated all of its some 20 employees in Yemen on Tuesday on escalating security worries. China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan are on the process of withdrawing its people in the country, the foreign ministry said.
Yemen is one of the six countries on which Seoul has imposed travel bans. The five other countries are Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Afghanistan. Travel to those nations requires special government permission.
(Yonhap)
