Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – China suddenly “punish” South Korea (South Korea). This is done by suspending the issuance of short-term visas for citizens of the Ginseng Country.
This was in response to Seoul’s implementation of travel restrictions for Chinese travelers due to Covid-19 concerns. China itself has seen a significant increase in Covid-19 cases since the opening of restrictions in early December, but has stopped publicly publishing daily case data since late December.
“The Chinese Embassy and Consulate in Korea will suspend issuing short-term visas for Korean citizens,” he said in a statement on Tuesday (10/1/2023), quoted AFP extension.
“This step will be adequate again if there is a directive in line, the lifting of the entry ban which is discriminatory against China, by South Korea.”
Earlier, South Korea tightened its borders for travelers from China entering the country. This includes two autonomous cities in particular, Hong Kong and Macau.
They must test negative for Covid-19 before travelling. They will also be retested upon arrival.
Not only that, positive residents are required to quarantine for a week. An incident also occurred when a Chinese national who tested positive upon arrival in Seoul refused to be quarantined and fled.
This sparked a two-day morning hunt that dominated South Korean headlines. Police finally found the Chinese national who was described as a medical tourist.
According to official data, 2,224 Chinese nationals on short-term visas have landed in South Korea since January 2. A total of 17.5% tested positive upon arrival.
South Korea actually limited issuing short-term visas to Chinese nationals first. But that excludes civil servants, diplomats and those with important humanitarian and business ends, through the end of January.
“Harms inevitably strengthens several anti-epidemic measures to prevent the virus from spreading in our country due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in China,” South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said last December.
Note that in 2019 and 2020, tourists from China accounted for the largest proportion of all foreign tourists visiting South Korea. That is to say, each reached 34.4% and 27.2%.
But the number of Chinese tourists dropped significantly in 2022, from 6.02 million in 2019 to 200,000 from January to November. According to data from the Ministry of Culture, only 7.5% of all tourists come from abroad.
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