This Korea Customs Service handout photo taken on April 2, 2025 and obtained via Yonhap on April 4, 2025, shows officials from the Donghae Regional Coast Guard and the Korea Customs Service moving packages believed to contain cocaine after they were detected by the Korea Customs Service and Korea Coast Guard from a foreign ship anchored at Okgye port in Gangneung. The Korea Coast Guard said they had found "two tons" of what they suspect to be pure cocaine on a Norwegian-flagged vessel which had departed from Mexico and made stops in Ecuador, Panama, and China. Korea Customs Service/Yonhap/AFP 

MANILA — The 20 Filipino seafarers of Norwegian-flagged bulk carrier MV Lunita that was busted in South Korea for carrying suspected cocaine are well taken care of while investigation is underway, the Department of Migrant Workers said.

Migrant Workers Undersecretary Felicitas Bay said in an online briefing Friday that the crew is in good health and "their entitlements, allotments and the wages, food supplies and other basic needs are continuously provided by the ship owner."

Bay said the shipping agency has provided a Filipino interpreter and lawyers and that a Migrant Workers Office representative that was able to visit the vessel.

The office will also provide a collaborating counsel for the Filipino crew. 

20 Filipino seafarers under probe in South Korea’s largest ever drug bust

Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the Filipino seafarers are still aboard the vessel.

"They have not been detained or under official custody of Korean authorities. So the investigation is ongoing. They have not been charged with anything but they have been thoroughly advised by the lawyers," he said.

Cacdac declined to provide details on the allegations against the 20 Filipino seafarers as the inquiry is ongoing.

"We will disclose that particular matter in an appropriate time. Our strategy right now is to guide them, advise them throughout the investigatory process," he added.

Cacdac vowed to provide the "best legal defense" for the Filipino seafarers as well as assistance to their families.

"We have started reaching out to families already," he said.

The agency has already met six of the families, with more meetings set next week.