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South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun presides over a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCHQ) on Apr. 8. (Yonhap News)

The South Korean government has announced plans to temporarily suspend visa waivers and visa-free arrivals for countries that have barred entry to South Korean nationals. Amid the possibility of the novel coronavirus re-spreading to Japan and other Asian countries after raging in Europe and the US, the decision signals its intent to respond proactively to the threat of infections arriving from overseas. Opinions in the healthcare community have been divided, with some predicting the measures will not be very effective and others suggesting it may help to prevent infections in the Seoul Capital Area (SCA).

In a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCHQ) on Apr. 8, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said, “We intend to keep in place our foundation of openness while strengthening restrictions [on foreign arrivals] according to a principle of reciprocity.”

Chung went on to instruct related ministries to “establish measures for the temporary suspension of visa waivers and visa-free entries.”

He also announced plans to “restrict entry by foreign nationals when it is not absolutely necessary or for urgent purposes.”

148 countries have barred entry to travelers arriving from South Korea

The decision comes as arrivals from overseas have come to account for nearly half of recent diagnoses, with signs pointing to a new spread of the virus in Japan and other Asian countries. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and other sources, a total 148 countries have barred entry to travelers arriving from South Korea, including 41 countries in Europe and 36 in the Asia-Pacific region. The measure will apply to a total of 88 of such countries, including 34 countries from which travelers are permitted to visit without a visa (such as Australia and Canada) and 54 that have signed visa waiver agreements (such as Thailand, Russia, and France). As of Apr. 8, the total number of patients who tested positive after arriving from overseas stood at 832, with the majority of them having traveled to countries that currently have bans in place on arrivals by international travelers, including Spain, Japan, and Canada.

“While most [arriving passengers] are international students and other South Korean nationals, we still have over 5,000 people coming in every day, which has been a burden,” Chung explained.

“If we keep visa issuance to a minimum, suspend the validity of previously issued visas, and temporarily suspend visa waiver agreements, the effect will be tantamount to an entry ban,” he added.

Experts have been mixed in their assessment. Ki Mo-ran, a professor of preventive medicine at the National Cancer Center, said, “With South Korean nationals representing 90% of arrivals, it’s questionable how much of a disease prevention effect these measures will have.”

“We’ll also need to take the rate of positive diagnoses by country into account,” she advised.

On average, around 5,000 travelers have been arriving each day, with foreign nationals accounting for 1,000, or around 20%. Foreign nationals also account for just 7.9% of diagnoses (66 cases) among all patients arriving from overseas.

Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious disease at Korea University Guro Hospital, said, “[The decision] is late in coming, but I think it’s significant from a disease prevention perspective.”

“This will help reduce the number of patients in the Seoul Capital Area,” he predicted.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice deported an Indonesian man in his 40s the same day for violation of his self-isolation restrictions. This marks the first instance of a foreign national being expelled from South Korea since the issuance of a “range of activity restriction” order on Apr. 1 by Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae.

By Park Da-hae, Lee Wan, and Lim Jae-woo, staff reporters

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