China has suspended the issuing of short-term visas to South Koreans in response to Seoul’s imposition of journey restrictions on Chinese vacationers over COVID considerations, Beijing’s embassy mentioned Tuesday.
“Chinese embassies and consulates in Korea will suspend the issuance of short-term visas for Korean citizens,” the embassy in Seoul mentioned, including the measures could be “adjusted again in line with South Korea’s removal of the discriminatory entry restrictions on China.”
Last month, Seoul imposed a wave of restrictions on vacationers from China, together with visa restrictions, testing necessities and a few flight limits, citing a surge in COVID-19 infections.
Seoul is capping flights from China, and vacationers from the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau should check adverse earlier than journey.
Mainland guests will even be examined on arrival and be required to quarantine for per week in the event that they check constructive, authorities have mentioned.
China presently points no vacationer visas and requires a adverse COVID check for all arrivals.
One Chinese nationwide who examined constructive on arriving in Seoul refused to quarantine and fled, sparking a two-day manhunt that dominated South Korean headlines.
Police ultimately discovered the Chinese nationwide — who was not recognized, however described as a medical vacationer — who will probably be questioned this week over the infraction, native media reported.
According to official figures, 2,224 Chinese nationals on short-term visas have landed in South Korea since January 2, with 17.5% testing constructive on arrival.
South Korea has additionally restricted the issuing of short-term visas to Chinese nationals, excluding public officers, diplomats and people with essential humanitarian and business functions, till the top of January.
Other restrictions embody scaling again the variety of flights from China and requiring all flights from the nation to land at South Korea’s foremost Incheon International Airport.
South Korea’s southernmost Jeju Island, which has its personal worldwide airport and separate visa entry regime, was a preferred vacationer vacation spot for Chinese arrivals earlier than the pandemic.
Seoul is “inevitably strengthening some anti-epidemic measures to prevent the spread of the virus in our country due to the worsening COVID-19 situation in China,” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo mentioned final month in asserting the measures.
News company Yonhap reported that South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Monday advised his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang the restrictions had been being imposed on a “scientific basis.”
China’s hospitals have been overwhelmed by an explosion in circumstances after Beijing started unwinding hardline controls that had torpedoed the economic system and sparked nationwide protests.
For each 2019 and 2020, vacationers from China accounted for the biggest proportion of all international vacationers visiting South Korea, making up 34.4 p.c and 27.2 p.c, respectively, in line with Seoul’s official information.
But the variety of Chinese vacationers dropped considerably final yr — from 6.02 million in 2019 to 200,000 for January to November 2022 — making up solely 7.5% of all vacationers from abroad, South Korea’s tradition ministry advised AFP. —Agence France-Presse
