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South Korean President Moon Jae-in

As a growing number of countries limit entry to travelers from South Korea because of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, South Korean President Moon Jae-in instructed the government on Mar. 10 to arrange a way for South Korean businesspeople to still enter those countries.

“The president instructed his aides to use diplomatic channels to ask [foreign governments] to allow South Korean businesspeople with a certificate of health to enter their country on an exceptional basis,” Blue House Spokesperson Kang Min-seok told reporters on Tuesday. Kang explained that this “certificate of health” would be a document issued by a state-designated medical facility confirming that the bearer had tested negative for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Such efforts appear aimed at minimizing the COVID-19 epidemic’s negative impact on overseas economic activity by Korean businessmen. Some of the main targets are likely to be major trading partners like Vietnam and Japan that have imposed entry restrictions on visitors from South Korea.

“The government and the president respect the measures that these countries are taking to contain the infection. But if we tell them about the considerably extensive coverage of South Korea’s disease control in the international press and the recent decrease in the number of new cases, with 248 on Mar. 8 and 131 on Mar. 9, we think they might make exceptions for business travelers who need to make urgent trips,” said a senior official at the Blue House.

“During a phone call on Mar. 6, Moon asked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow reciprocal visits by business travelers if they can provide a state-issued certificate of health, given the importance of such visits for cooperation between our two countries,” the official added.

When reporters asked if the government was planning to restrict entry from Italy, the Blue House pointed out that “Italy isn’t restricting entry to South Koreans.”

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

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