The country's top diplomat on Wednesday asked her Brazilian counterpart to carry out an additional search operation for crew members who are missing from an ill-fated South Korean cargo ship, the foreign ministry said. 

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha made the request during a phone conversation with her Brazilian counterpart Aloysio Nunes, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The Stellar Daisy, a 266,000-ton ore carrier with eight South Korean and 16 Filipino sailors, departed Rio de Janeiro on March 26 and was sailing off Uruguay five days later when it made a distress call.

Only two Filipino crew members have been rescued.

During Wednesday's talks, Kang thanked her Brazilian counterpart for carrying out a search operation and asked for an additional one at islands near the site of the incident.

Nunes explained the efforts put forth by the Brazilian government to search the missing crew members and said he will deliver South Korea's request to its navy, the ministry said. 

Nunes congratulated Kang on her inauguration last month and highly evaluated the progress made in ties between the two countries, according to the ministry.

During the talks, Kang also asked Nunes to take part in the 8th Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) to take place in South Korea's southeastern port city of Busan late next month, it said. 

The top diplomat also asked for the Brazilian foreign minister's efforts to promptly begin negotiations for a trade agreement between South Korea and the South American trade block MERCOSUR, it said. 

MERCOSUR, which means the Southern Common Market in Spanish, consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. (Yonhap)