hankyoreh

A government charter flight for repatriating South Korean citizens arrives from Wuhan, China, at Incheon International Airport on Jan. 31. (photo pool)

A charter plane had been scheduled to depart from Wuhan, in China’s Hubei Province, on Thursday to evacuate South Korean citizens stuck in the city, which has been put on lockdown as the epicenter of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. But the schedule of the flight was abruptly changed, creating more chaos.

“Our goal is to bring home between 350 and 360 citizens on a single charter flight sometime today,” said a spokesperson for a task force responsible for coordinating the South Korean government’s fight against the coronavirus on Jan. 30. Seoul had originally scheduled two charter flights on that day and two more on the next to repatriate the some 720 South Korean citizens in Wuhan, but that plan was altered after Chinese authorities informed Seoul on the evening of Jan. 29 that only one charter plane would be allowed to operate.

At 1 am on Jan. 30, the South Korean consulate general in Wuhan sent out an emergency message to inform prospective passengers that, because the Chinese authorities had delayed permission for the chartered flights, the scheduled rendezvous at 10:45 am on Jan. 30 at the toll gate would have to be changed. The charter plane was supposed to depart from Incheon International Airport on Thursday morning, but following deliberations with the Chinese government, its departure was pushed back until late on Thursday afternoon, the Hankyoreh confirmed.

A government charter plane evacuating 368 South Koreans from Wuhan and surrounding areas departed from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on the morning of Jan. 31. According to South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Korean Air flight KE9884, a Boeing 747 airliner, took off from the airport at 6:05 am Korean time (5:05 am in China).

The abrupt change of plans appears to have resulted from unexpected complications during the final deliberations with the Chinese. “On the evening of Jan. 29, we heard from the Chinese that they only intended to approve a single charter plane. We’ve continued to communicate with China since then, but plans haven’t been finalized yet. We’re making final adjustments,” Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said during a joint briefing of government agencies dealing with the coronavirus at the Central Government Complex in Seoul on Thursday. Despite the promise that approval was forthcoming, the Chinese government reduced the number of flights and delayed its final approval, forcing the government to push back the charter flight’s scheduled departure.

Seoul hasn’t provided a detailed explanation of why the Chinese government would make such a decision. “Because China is getting requests from many countries, including the US and Japan, to allow temporary flights, the Chinese for now are accepting requests in the order they’re made and only allowing one plane for each country. We’re continuing to ask for more temporary flights so that we can quickly bring all our citizens home,” Kang said. That also raises doubts about the charter flight that was scheduled to depart on Jan. 31.

Some think the Chinese authorities want to avoid an “exodus” from Wuhan, with foreign governments deploying numerous charter planes to the city, out of concern for how that might affect public sentiment. That analysis is supported by the fact that charter flights organized by the American and Japanese governments both departed from the city at night, when the planes would be less noticeable. An American charter flight initially scheduled to depart at 11 pm on Jan. 28 actually took off at 5 am on Jan. 29, while Japanese charter planes arrived in the evening, one on Jan. 28 and another on Jan. 29, according to press reports in the US and Japan.

“Wuhan is under complete lockdown, with millions of people trapped inside. This leaves the Chinese authorities with no choice but to consider the social unrest that might result if the international press and social media put the spotlight on foreign governments sending plane after plane to evacuate their citizens,” said a China expert who requested anonymity. “The Chinese government are probably looking into the option of having these charter planes take off quietly at night or early in the morning, when they’re less visible.”

Amid such delicate circumstances, the South Korean government rushed to announce its evacuation plans before it had even reached a final agreement with the Chinese, and preparations to evacuate South Korean citizens from Wuhan were effectively broadcast live on social media, two developments that probably made the Chinese uncomfortable.

“Because of the poor transportation situation in Wuhan, it takes a lot of time to reach the airport, and we were forced to make preparations,” a government official explained. If the goal is to bring South Korean citizens home safely, it would appear necessary to prepare as prudently and meticulously as possible while also maintaining security.

Thus far, the US and Japan are the only countries that have evacuated their citizens from Wuhan by charter plane, which Japan is heralding as a success. “The US and Japan were the first to be allotted arrival and departure times for their charter planes. This shows which countries China cares about,” a Japanese government official was quoted as saying in a report by the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper. But another possible reason is that the US and Japan were the first countries to initiate deliberations with China. According to the Asahi Shimbun, Japanese officials were caught off guard when their plans to simultaneously dispatch two charter planes to Wuhan on the morning of Jan. 28 were delayed.

Not only South Korea but also Canada is dealing with delays in charter flights, according to reports. A UK flight scheduled to repatriate 200 British citizens residing in Wuhan on Jan. 30 wasn’t able to take off at the scheduled time because permission was delayed, the BBC reported, but was able to depart at 9:45 am on Jan. 31.

By Kim So-youn and Park Min-hee, staff reporters

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