Nepal declines foreign rescue help, South Korea says it is 'negotiating'

Kathmandu: Nepal does not need foreign assistance for search-and-rescue operations following the ​devastating flash flood that swept ​through several towns, its foreign ministry said on Friday, ​despite offers of help from several countries with nationals missing in the disaster.

The flood tore through areas including Rasuwa district near the Chinese border, levelling entire towns, damaging hydropower projects and ‌killing close ⁠to 500 ⁠people. Hundreds of foreign nationals are still missing, including from South Korea, which said it ​has already sent a response team to Nepal and will also dispatch a disaster relief ​team.

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But Nepal's foreign ministry said on Friday that it was managing the rescue efforts.

"The offer for help is natural. Our security agencies are doing the search ​and rescue operation. For now we don't require such ⁠help," Lok ‌Bahadur Chhetri, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said without providing ​further details.

South Korea's ​foreign ministry said Nepal had indicated it was not ⁠yet planning to accept foreign rescue teams.

"South Korea will keep ​negotiating with Nepal over the matter," the ministry added.

Seoul ​has pledged $1 million in humanitarian assistance through international organisations, its foreign minister said on X.

Nine South Koreans working in a hydropower plant were missing and 10 were stranded, South Korea's foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The Kathmandu Post reported that India, China, the United States, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and ‌Bangladesh had asked the government to allow their search-and-rescue teams to assist in the operation.

Dinesh Bhattarai, a former Nepali ambassador to ​the United Nations ​in Geneva, said ⁠the government's reluctance to accept foreign search-and-rescue teams may be linked to the sensitivity of flood-hit Rasuwa district, which borders China's Tibet region.

"They may have thought about ​the locational sensitivity of the region and decided not to accept foreign teams," Bhattarai told Reuters.

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But Chhetri said the decision had nothing to do with China's sensitivity because Nepal's own rescue teams were handling the operation.