S. KOREAN NATIONALS EVACUATED FROM SUDAN

[Anchor Lead]

Amid the fierce armed conflict that has been ongoing for ten days in North Africa's Sudan, 28 South Korean expatriates have successfully and safely evacuated the country. The evacuation operation named "Promise" was carried out by deploying all possible means. Other nations are also desperately trying to evacuate their nationals by air, sea or land.

[Pkg]

A South Korean military airplane enters a military base in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Soon afterwards, Korean nationals, who seem to be in high spirits, disembark. Through a dramatic evacuation operation, 28 Korean nationals have been evacuated from Sudan unharmed.

[Soundbite] Lim Jong-deuk(Deputy Nat'l Security Adviser) : "Operation ‘Promise’ has been carried out successfully to evacuate all 28 of our citizens who wanted to leave Sudan. They have been evacuated from the dangerous area unharmed."

The Korean nationals departed from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Sunday and spent more than a day on a bus to get to an airport in Port Sudan. The distance covered was around 850km. A military airplane that was waiting for the Korean nationals in Port Sudan transported them to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Because of the dangerous local situation, the Korean government did not disclose this to the media until the bus entered Port Sudan. The Koreans then boarded the Korean Air Force's military tanker plane Cygnus, which was dispatched on an emergency basis, and were set to arrive at Seoul Air Base on Tuesday afternoon. The evacuation operation named "Promise" was carried out by deploying all possible means. Meanwhile, the U.S. secretary of state announced that the warring factions in Sudan have agreed on a nationwide ceasefire for 72 hours, starting from midnight April 24, local time. The two sides had agreed on a ceasefire several times before, but weren't complied with. The situation in Sudan keeps deteriorating. Foreign news outlets report that water, electricity and telecommunication are mostly unavailable in the country. Other nations are also desperately trying to evacuate their nationals by air, sea or land.