Ambassador Lee Jang-keun of South Korea visited Cox’s Bazar from February 14 to 17 to oversee the Rohingyas and host community programmes assisted by Korea through international agencies.

The Republic of Korea has been contributing annually four to five million US dollars to the international organisations based in Bangladesh for assisting their humanitarian efforts to address the largest global refugee crisis of Rohingyas.

In 2020, the Republic of Korea contributed 4 million US dollars to UNHCR, UNICEF, IOM, WFP, and IFRC offices in Bangladesh, said a press release of the embassy on Wednesday.

On the February 15, Ambassador Lee, alongwith the representatives of International Organization for Migration (IOM and World Food Programme (WFP), visited Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps and engaged with humanitarian workers therein as well as the Rohingyas.

He visited the COVID-19 Isolation and Treatment Center (ICT), Women and Girls Safe Space (WGSS), Shelter Distribution Center, LPG Depot, Site Management Hub, E-voucher Outlet, and Fresh Food Corner, WFP Logistics Hub and Host Community of Kulalpara, Rajapalong.

KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) Dhaka office representative, Ms. Do Yong-Ah also joined this visit.

Ambassador Lee also held various meetings with UN agencies in Cox’s Bazar, including IOM, WFP, UNHCR, and UNICEF, and was briefed on activities of the organisations in the camp and host community, and discussed how to improve collaborations for resolving the refuge challenges.

During the visit, Ambassador Lee also met with local authorities of Bangladesh including Deputy Commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, Md Mamunur Rashid, Faisal Ahmed, Cox’s Bazar CID Police Superintendent and Shah Rezwan Hayat, RRRC Commissioner. Ambassador Lee also held meetings with Korean NGO members and business people working in the Cox’s Bazar area.

Prior to visiting Cox’s Bazar, Ambassador Lee, on Feb 14, visited Moheshkhali Island and observed the situation of the tripartite project among IOM, Korea Telecom, and KOICA to establish high-speed communication network in the island providing platforms for education, health and e-commerce services to the inhabitants.