Officials Head to Nepal to Probe Crash of UN Chopper

South Korea will dispatch a fact-finding mission to Nepal Tuesday to investigate the crash of a United Nations helicopter carrying four UN peacekeeping forces, including a South Korean officer, the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Lee Young-man will lead the mission which includes two family members of Lt. Col. Park Hyung-jin, who was aboard the helicopter that crashed Monday while returning to the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, from an eastern district of Sindhuli, a spokesman for the office said.

All 10 people on board, including three flight attendants, are believed to have been killed, but Seoul has yet to officially confirm Park's fate.

"As the fate has not yet been confirmed, we will do everything we can to accurately assess and control the situation," JCS Chairman Gen. Kim Kwan-jin was quoted by the spokesman as saying.

Park is one of five South Korean military officers working for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Nepal. (Yonhap)