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Flight from missiles: Korean student documents evacuation from Israel on YouTube

Published: 23 Jun. 2025, 14:24

A still from a Korean student's vlog about her evacuation journey from Israel back to Korea following the onset of the Israel-Iran conflict on June 13 [SCREEN CAPTURE]

As missiles rained down over Israel in the early hours of June 13, a Korean student took shelter — and began recording.

The student, who introduced herself as studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, drew attention online after uploading a video documenting her evacuation during the recent Israel-Iran military clash to YouTube. The 10-minute video is titled “The world’s first war evacuation vlog” in Korean and has been seen over 1.11 million times since being posted last Thursday.

A still from a Korean student's vlog about her evacuation journey from Israel back to Korea following the onset of the Israel-Iran conflict on June 13 [SCREEN CAPTURE]

According to the video, the student awoke at around 3 a.m. on June 13 by air raid sirens and went to a bomb shelter.

“Sirens do go off from time to time, but I had never heard one at this hour. I could tell this was serious,” the student said in the video.

The student had been scheduled to fly to Paris on June 16 — a trip booked four months earlier — but was informed that the flight had been canceled. While still in the dormitory, she witnessed several missiles falling outside the window. More than 100 missile alerts arrived on her phone in just 10 minutes.

Efforts to find a new outbound flight proved difficult, with prices soaring to as much as 9 million won ($6,500).

However, with support from the local Korean community and the Korean Embassy in Israel, she was able to evacuate to Jordan.

After crossing the Israeli border by bus and reaching Amman, the student spent a night at a local Korean household. She departed from Amman’s airport the next day and traveled via Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Doha, Qatar, arriving safely in Korea after a journey of more than 18 hours.

A still from a Korean student's vlog about her evacuation journey from Israel back to Korea following the onset of the Israel-Iran conflict on June 13 [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Viewers left comments such as, “I never thought I’d see a missile in a vlog,” “I can’t imagine how worried her parents must have been — I’m just glad they’re safe,” “Thank you to everyone who helped, especially the embassy and the Korean community,” and “I’m grateful to be from a country that can evacuate its citizens.”

Meanwhile, Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has helped evacuate 56 people, including five Iranian nationals who are family members of Korean citizens, to Turkmenistan. The ministry said it is closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East and will take necessary measures to ensure the safety of Korean nationals.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]