1. The third batch of the Korea Disaster Response Team (KDRT) (two military doctors and three military nurses) dispatched to Sierra Leone to fight Ebola returned home on March 23 after successfully completing its medical activities in the country for four weeks. With this, the ROK has completed its some three-month emergency rescue activities, where a total of 24 medical workers and 11 support personnel were dispatched, since it sent the first batch of the KDRT on December 13.

o The members of the KDRT were all confirmed healthy with no suspected Ebola symptoms in the screening process they went through upon arrival in the ROK. As was the case with the first and second batches of the KDRT, they will also resume their normal activities after being quarantined and monitored in a separate facility for three weeks, the maximum incubation period for Ebola.

2. Concerning the KDRT’s medical services, the government of Sierra Leone expressed its deep gratitude for the active support of the ROK government, which sent the medical personnel to counter Ebola in Sierra Leone, adding that “a friend in need is a friend indeed.” The government of Sierra Leone also noted that the ROK-Sierra Leone relations had further strengthened through the dispatch of the KDRT.

3. The KDRT, dispatched this time, was sent for three months, the longest period in the history of the ROK’s KDRT. This is seen as having opened up new horizons in the ROK’s humanitarian support in that the KDRT was dispatched to respond to a new type of disaster, “infectious disease.”

o In particular, in the process of sending the KDRT, the ROK government has established global cooperative systems at multiple levels, including a comprehensive cooperative system with the UK, which leads the Ebola response in Sierra Leone; cooperation with NGOs in the Ebola Treatment Center; and cooperation with the WHO and the EU when transferring a Korean medical worker.

o As of December 28, 2014, when the KDRT started its operations, the number of new Ebola cases in the three affected countries (Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia) per week recorded 482, of which 337 occurred in Sierra Leone. However, as of March 15, the number of new Ebola cases in the three countries per week declined to 150, of which 55 occurred in Sierra Leone. The KDRT is seen as having made substantive contributions in countering Ebola.

4. The ROK government will hold an assessment meeting with medical workers and advisors who joined the ROK’s rescue activities this time to discuss ways to strengthen the ROK’s capacities to deal with similar situations in the future. The government will also improve the current system to help the ROK more actively participate in international responses and share information with relevant agencies and the private sector by publishing a white paper on its experiences in the dispatch of the KDRT.

o Furthermore, the ROK government will explore ways to continue its support to completely eradicate Ebola and review various measures to contribute to reestablishing healthcare institutions and systems in Ebola-affected regions in the post-Ebola phase. 


                                                   Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
                                                 Ministry of National Defense 
                                                Ministry of Health and Welfare

*unofficial translation