Korea to send emergency rescue team to earthquake-hit Turkey

Emergency teams search for people in the rubble in a destroyed building in Gaziantep, Turkey, on Monday after a powerful quake rocked southeast Turkey and Syria. [AP/YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the government Tuesday to quickly send rescue workers and medical supplies using Korean military aircraft after a devastating earthquake hit Turkey.

The instructions came after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and Syria on Monday, killing more than 4,000 people.

Yoon ordered Tuesday morning to "dispatch rescue personnel using military transport planes and swiftly deliver emergency medicine and medical supplies to support Turkey after earthquake damages," said the presidential office in a statement.

He called on relevant agencies to cooperate closely with Turkish authorities through Korea's Foreign Ministry and its diplomatic missions in Turkey.

An international rescue team of around 60 personnel and a government relief team will soon be dispatched to Turkey, added the office.

The president emphasized that Turkey "is a brother country that did not hesitate to send troops after the communist aggression in 1950," said Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential secretary for press affairs, in a statement.

He also "conveyed his deepest condolences to the bereaved families of those who lost their lives in this accident," she added.

The National Fire Agency later said that it will dispatch an international disaster relief team to earthquake-hit Turkey to help efforts to search for missing people.

The rescue personnel are expected to gather at Namyangju, Gyeonggi, Tuesday afternoon to depart for Turkey, said the fire agency.

It said that the Korean government decided to dispatch a rescue team to support such search and rescue efforts at the request of the Turkish government.

Korea's international rescue team was formed in 1997 and is internationally renowned for its disaster relief efforts.

"My heart goes out to the people of Turkiye and Syria during this difficult time," Yoon wrote in a Facebook post early Tuesday, using the official name of Turkey. "Korea sends our deepest condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. We stand ready to assist Turkiye, a brotherhood forged in blood during the Korean War, in any way possible."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]