Korean travelers stranded in Guam after typhoon return

Social Affairs

Published: 29 May. 2023, 18:34 Updated: 31 May. 2023, 00:10

Korean travelers stranded in Guam after typhoon return

Korean tourists at Incheon International Airport on Monday night after arriving from Guam, where they were stranded due to a typhoon that battered the island. [NEWS1]

A group of 188 Koreans arrived at Incheon International Airport on Monday night, days after they were stranded on Guam due to a typhoon.

They touched down at 8:45 p.m. on a Jin Air plane, becoming the first among over 3,000 stranded Koreans to come back home.

Four other flights were expected to arrive from Guam later the same day.

About 3,400 Koreans, mostly tourists, were stranded on the U.S. Pacific territory after a typhoon battered the island last week, damaging airport runways, toppling trees and cutting off power and water supplies.

No casualties have been reported.

All tourists will likely be able to return to Korea by Tuesday, Korean government officials said, on one of the flights arranged by Korean Air, Jin Air, T'way Air and Jeju Air.

A six-member team from Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was dispatched to Guam on Monday to help with passenger onboarding and discuss matters with authorities of the island, said the ministry.

Koreans in Guam were estimated to account for as much as half of the international travelers on the island when Typhoon Mawar hit last Wednesday.

Many tourists struggled with extending their stay at over-booked hotels and had to rely on help from Korean expats lending spare rooms.

After knocking down power lines across Guam, Mawar was upgraded to a super typhoon — the highest level for a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of at least 241 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour) — as it moved into open water.

Korea's national weather service initially raised the possibility of Mawar approaching the Korean Peninsula but reversed its stance over the weekend.

Mawar was spotted in waters northeast of the Philippines on Monday afternoon, with sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour, according to Zoom Earth, which shows live weather satellite images across the world.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said the typhoon was predicted to arrive near the 20-degree north latitude point between the Philippines and Taiwan on Tuesday, and then turn northeastward to pass through waters south of Japan's Okinawa.

From there, it will either exit into the Pacific Ocean or head westward toward southern China, said the KMA, adding that the typhoon is anticipated to have minimal impact on Korea.

As for Korea's rainy weather, the KMA forecast the southern regions to receive rain until Tuesday morning, and Jeju Island until Wednesday morning.

BY JEONG EUN-HYE, LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]