By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has advised South Koreans not to travel to Chad due to the recent conflicts between government forces and rebels in the African nation, a ministry spokesman said Monday.
There are a total of 38 South Korean nationals there and all of them are safe, the spokesman Cho Hee-yong said.
Koreans in the African country are preparing to evacuate amid escalating violence in the region, reports said.
The South Korean Embassy in Nigeria said it had asked the French military for help to evacuate South Koreans from Chad to Gabon, according to Yonhap News.
An embassy official said the Korean community there is presumably safe and that there have been no reports of foreigner casualties.
The unrest in Chad began after rebels surrounded the palace of President Idriss Deby. The capital's largest market and radio station have been destroyed by fire and looted and the rebels have also attacked government troops in the city of Andre, in the east of the country.
The French army has evacuated more than 500 foreigners from Chad. The evacuees have been flown from the Chadian capital N'djamena to Gabon. More than 200 of them are French nationals.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry says there are 15 Dutch citizens in Chad, but it is not known whether they will leave the country.