During his first meeting with senior aides at the presidential office in Yongsan since taking office earlier this month, Lee Jae-myung urged them to do their "utmost to ensure the safety of South Korean nationals" in the region.
His remarks came after the U.S. military's overnight operation last Saturday, dubbed "Midnight Hammer," which struck three Iranian nuclear sites including a secret underground uranium enrichment facility in a remote mountainous area near Tehran using powerful "bunker-buster" bombs for the first time.
Lee said, "Thorough measures must be taken to ensure the safety of South Koreans in the region," adding that funds from the supplementary budget he signed off last week could be allocated, if necessary, to "urgently" evacuate them and implement any other measures.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, around 56 South Koreans and their family members have so far been evacuated from Iran by land to Turkmenistan. Another 26 have been evacuated from Israel to Jordan. Currently, around 70 South Koreans still remain in Iran, while about 460 are in Israel.
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