Korea's disaster relief team gets highest grade from UN agency for 3rd time

Korean rescue workers carry out a mock emergency drill during the international assessment on disaster relief responses conducted by the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group in Daegu, Oct. 5. Yonhap

Korea's national disaster relief team has received the highest certification from a U.N.-affiliated agency for its response capabilities, marking the third such international accreditation of the same kind, the foreign ministry said Friday.

The Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) was given a "Heavy Teams" classification level, the highest on a scale of three that includes "Light Teams" and "Medium Teams," by the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), after a five-day assessment conducted in southern Korea by the U.N. body this week, the ministry said.

INSARAG, run by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), consists of a group of disaster relief experts tasked with evaluating countries' search and rescue capabilities and operational field coordination. It also establishes standards and guidelines for response teams in the event of natural and man-made disasters.

The assessment is carried out every five years. Korea obtained the highest INSARAG certification in 2011 and 2016.

The KDRT consists of officials and experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Fire Agency, the National 119 Rescue Headquarters and the Ministry of National Defense, among others.

Korea sent KDRT teams to Turkey in February to help with the rescue work in the aftermath of an earthquake, and to Canada in July to assist in dealing with wildfires. (Yonhap)