South Korea says it will remove the entry restrictions it placed on short-term travelers from China since the start of the year as officials see the COVID-19 situation in that country as stabilizing.
South Korea in early January stopped issuing most short-term
visas at its consulates in China, citing concerns about a virus surge in the
country and the potential for new mutations. China abruptly eased coronavirus
restrictions in December, raising the prospect of millions of Chinese traveling
abroad again for the first time in three years.
South Korea also required all passengers from China, Hong
Kong and Macao to submit proof of negative tests taken with 48 hours before
their arrival and put them through tests again once they arrive.
Following an anti-virus meeting on Friday, the government
decided to normalize short-term visa applications at its consulates in China
from Saturday. The testing requirements were maintained but officials say those
steps could be relaxed later depending on virus developments.
While allowing the extension of existing visas, South Korea
had stopped issuing most short-term visas at its consulates in China, except
for essential government, diplomatic and business activities and humanitarian
reasons.
The South Korean virus measures prompted China to retaliate
by suspending South Korean short-term visa applications, raising business
concerns in a country that heavily depends on exports to China.
China called the South Korean move a “step in the right
direction towards reducing barriers to people-to-people exchanges between the
two countries,” and indicated it would likely respond in kind.
“China will actively consider taking the reciprocal approach
of resuming the issuance of short-term visas for South Korean citizens,”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing Friday.
“We hope the ROK will work with us to provide more
convenience for the normal flow of people between the two sides,” she said,
referring to South Korea’s formal name, the Republic of Korea.
South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare said 1.4% of
Chinese short-term travelers tested positive after their arrivals, compared to
nearly 22% in the first week of January. As of Friday, eight of them remained
in quarantine at designated hotels, compared to around 140 quarantines in early
January.
“The downward trend apparently reflects the change in the
COVID-19 situation in China, where signs of a viral emergence following the
Lunar New Year’s holidays haven’t been evident and the emergence of new
variants hasn’t happened,” the Health Ministry said in a statement announcing
the easing of border controls.
According to data from South Korea’s Disease Control and
Prevention Agency, about 10,600 short-term travelers from China underwent
airport tests after arrival since Jan. 2 and about 7% of them tested positive.
South Korean officials defended their measures after Beijing
stopped issuing new visas in the country in apparent retaliation, saying that
the spread of COVID-19 in China was creating concern about a possible emergence
of new variants and complaining that Chinese authorities weren’t sharing
transparent infection data.
South Korea had previously said it would maintain the
measures until the end of February, guarding a further spread of the virus in
China following the Lunar New Year holidays in late January.
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