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Afghans who aided the activities of the South Korean government arrive at Incheon International Airport on Thursday. (pool photo)

A total of 378 Afghans who had aided the activities of the South Korean government in their country were flown to Korea on military transport planes on Thursday. The other 13 of the 391 people evacuated from Afghanistan, which is now under the control of the Taliban, boarded an aircraft in Islamabad, Pakistan, that same evening and are scheduled to arrive in Korea on Friday.

The first Afghan family to escape harm and reach Korean soil passed through Gate 43 at Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport on Thursday. The father was pushing a suitcase, and the mother was carrying their youngest child. As they walked forward, a young boy and two girls gawked at their surroundings, while the father waved at the gathered reporters.

Another man said, “I feel very well.” He was holding the hand of a boy who smiled when he saw the cameras and gave the “thumbs up” sign.

These Afghans had boarded a KC330 tanker aircraft from the South Korean air force at 4:53 am, Korean time, at the Islamabad airport. Their plane touched down at Incheon at 4:28 pm, after 11 hours in the air. The evacuees were exhausted after spending nearly two days in airports and airplanes.

The people evacuated from Afghanistan included about a hundred children below the age of six and about 80 children between the ages of six and ten. In short, half the group were aged ten or below.

Local employees of the South Korean government in Afghanistan were mostly young people in their 20s and 30s, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Soon after arriving, the evacuees were tested for COVID-19 in a separate section of the airport and were then taken to a facility nearby to await their test results.

Those who test negative will be moved to the National Human Resources Development Institute, in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, for a 14-day quarantine period. They will reportedly receive six to eight weeks of training at the institute to help them settle in Korean society and will then be moved to other facilities.

The Afghans who were airlifted to Korea along with their families are professionals — including doctors, nurses, IT technicians, interpreters, and teachers — who worked at the South Korean embassy in Afghanistan, the Korea International Cooperation Agency, the Korean Hospital in Bagram, the Korean Vocational Training Center in Bagram, and a provincial reconstruction team in Charikar for as long as 7-8 years.

During a meeting on Thursday, the standing committee of the Blue House National Security Council, chaired by National Security Office Director Suh Hoon, discussed the resettlement of these Afghans in South Korea and issues pertaining to disease control and safety.

“These individuals have the option of applying for refugee status under the Refugee Act. But given the lack of time, we decided it was necessary to take preemptive protective measures, so we allowed them to enter the country as ‘persons of special merit,’” a Blue House official said.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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