By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter
All 13 Koreans residing in Concepcion, the closest major city to the epicenter of the quake in Chile, were safe, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Sunday.
President Lee Myung-bak, meanwhile, sent a message of condolence to Chile's outgoing President Michelle Bachelet and its President-elect Sebastian Pinera about the earthquake.
"I would like to offer my condolences to the bereaved families of the quake victims and the Chilean people," Lee said in the message.
The Korean government is prepared to support Chile in overcoming the difficult time, Lee said.
Some 2,000 Koreans living in the Chilean capital of Santiago, 325 kilometers northeast of the epicenter, were also unscathed, the ministry said.
Earlier in the day, officials of relevant ministries held an emergency meeting to discuss the possibility of sending a rescue team and relief supplies to Chile.
The government will make the decision on the dispatch of a rescue team after consulting with the Chilean government, officials said.
The foreign ministry expressed its "heart-felt condolences to the Chilean government and its people for the loss of human lives and the damage caused by the earthquake."
The earthquake triggered a tsunami that swept across the Pacific Ocean without doing too much damage.
The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast the tsunami will have little impact here.
"The tsunami is expected to die out and have little impact on the peninsula after passing through the Japanese archipelago," the KMA said in a statement.
Japan issued its first major tsunami warning in 17 years, following the earthquake.