The number of South Korean nationals remaining in turmoil-battered Libya will drop to about 100 after the Seoul government's evacuation program is completed on Saturday (Korean time), a government official said Saturday.
"The evacuation of our nationals will be actually completed later today," said an official from the foreign ministry. "By the end of today, 15 people will have been pulled out of the city of Sirte by a Greek ship, and the number of remaining South Koreans will drop to 100."
Most of the remaining South Koreans are employees of Korean construction companies, said the official, adding they want to stay in the country to look after heavy equipment used for building factories and houses.
According to the ministry, a total of 156 South Koreans were evacuated on Friday. South Korea's 4,500-ton destroyer Choi Young arrived in Malta on the day, carrying 32 Korean nationals. The warship will return to Tripoli to stand by to help Korean people escape from the warn-torn country.
It had been stationed in waters near Somalia for anti-piracy operations before being dispatched to Libya.
Hundreds of South Koreans have left Libya by air and land over the past week as clashes between anti-government protesters and forces loyal to the country's leader, Moammar Gadhafi, intensify. The clashes are believed to have left hundreds of people dead and thousands injured.