SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Yonhap) — South Korea plans to hold a meeting of government bodies this week to discuss ways to better protect its citizens overseas after a number of South Koreans were killed abroad, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will preside over the meeting of officials from the national safety, justice and national defense ministries as well as the police and food safety agencies on Wednesday, ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il said in a briefing.
The officials plan to discuss how to better facilitate collaboration among the government bodies to step up efforts to protect South Koreans staying in foreign countries, the official said.
In the Wednesday meeting, they will touch upon last December's deadly sinking of a South Korean fishing vessel, the murder of a South Korean woman in the Philippines as well as the safety of South Korean citizens in unstable regions in the Middle East, the spokesman added.
The pollack-fishing Oryong 501 carrying 60 crew sank in the western Bering Sea on Dec. 1, leaving more than 50 crewmen killed or missing.
One South Korean woman was murdered by a robber in Manila, the Philippines, earlier this week, further sparking safety concerns on South Koreans in the Southeast Asian country.
A total of four South Koreans have been killed in the Philippines so far in 2015. (Yonhap)
