How South Korea‘s KC-330 ’Cygnus' Successfully Evacuated 204 Nationals from the Middle East

Jeon Seong-min | 2026.03.15

  President Lee Jae-myung [Photo=Yonhap News]
  President Lee Jae-myung [Photo=Yonhap News]
 
 
President Lee Jae-myung lauded the safe return of roughly 200 South Korean citizens who had been stranded in the Middle East, calling it a significant achievement of whole-of-government “one team” cooperation.
 
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the president said 204 South Koreans who had been isolated amid the unrest in the Middle East were flown home safely on a military transport aircraft. He expressed his gratitude to everyone who worked around the clock to make the operation a success.
 
Lee noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Air Force, South Korean embassies in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon, the government joint rapid-response team and the National Police Agency all joined forces — a demonstration, he said, of whole-of-government “one team” cooperation.
 
According to the government, a single Air Force KC-330 “Cygnus” multi-role tanker-transport landed at Seoul Airport in Seongnam at about 5:59 p.m., carrying 204 South Korean citizens, five family members of foreign nationality and two Japanese nationals — 211 people in total.
 
The Cygnus departed Korea on the morning of the 14th and arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that afternoon (local time). It picked up passengers that evening and then returned to Korea.
 
For the operation, which the government named “Desert Light,” officials sought overflight clearance from about 10 countries along the route and dispatched a rapid-response team to the region led by former Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Jae-woong.
 
At Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-baek welcomed the returning citizens and said the mission succeeded because the Air Force, the Joint Chiefs, the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry worked closely together as “one team.” He added that the prompt overflight approvals from roughly 10 countries reflected the dedication and effort of all personnel involved.