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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook take part in early voting in Seoul’s Samcheong neighborhood on Apr. 10. (Blue House photo pool)

The South Korean government recently moved to suspend the validity of previously issued short-term visas, while barring visa exemptions and visa-free entry from countries and regions with entry bans on South Korean travelers based on the principle of “reciprocity.” The number of foreign nationals arriving for short-term stays appears poised to fall by as much as 300 per day. Experts predicted that while this may reduce the burden for quarantine facilities and management, it is unlikely to yield much effect in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus in South Korea.

Following the measures announced by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) on Apr. 9, the validity of all short-term visas (stays of up to 90 days) issued to foreign nationals by any South Korean diplomatic offices overseas through Apr. 5 will be temporarily suspended. Those foreign nationals who received a short-term visa before Apr. 5 will need to submit another visa request with a diplomatic office to enter South Korea. The suspension does not extend to long-term (employment/investment) visas or visas meeting the criteria for short-term employment (C-4) of highly skilled technicians and others as requested by South Korean businesses. Among the 151 countries and regions that have barred entry to South Korean nationals, the South Korean government is also provisionally suspending visa exemptions for 90 countries/regions that had been allowing visa-free entry.

Daily increases of people in self-quarantine

In reference to this, Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCHQ) General Coordinator Kim Gang-lip explained, “We’ve been having around 1,000-1,500 arrivals each day [recently], and foreign nationals arriving for short-term stays represent around 20-30%, or slightly more than 300.”

“I think [suspending the validity of short-term visas] will have an impact within that range,” he predicted. His remarks suggest that the number of arriving foreign nationals can be reduced by around 300 through the stronger restrictions. The number of arrivals has steadily dropped since a mandatory two-week self-isolation period was instituted two weeks ago -- nearly halved from over 2,000 on Apr. 1 to just over 1,000 on Apr. 7 -- and the number of foreign nationals arriving for short-term sojourns has fallen with it.

For this reason, some analysts are saying that while part of the aim is to prevent the virus from being spread in South Korea, the measure is also intended as a way of mitigating the political and administrative burden of self-quarantine management by reducing its scale, while also responding to ongoing demands for an outright entry ban on foreign nationals.

“It’s inevitably more difficult to manage foreign nationals in self-quarantine than South Koreans, as they speak different languages and have different food cultures,” explained Ki Mo-ran, a professor of preventive medicine at the National Cancer Center.

“We can anticipate an effect from the increased entry restrictions in terms of reducing the number of people who have to be managed for a two-week period [by the government],” she predicted.

Choi Won-seok, a professor of infectious diseases at Korea University Ansan Hospital, said, “While it is important to manage overseas inflows so that the domestic situation can subside, it isn’t as though there aren’t any cases arising domestically, and tougher entry restrictions won’t have a tremendous impact in terms of preventing infections.” Potential questions also remain about whether the principle of a “South Korean infectious disease response system rooted in democracy and openness” that the government has been promoting at home and overseas is being undermined.

As of midnight on Apr. 9, the number of new coronavirus cases diagnosed that day stood at 39. Apart from one day on Apr. 8 when the number reached 53, the levels have remained below 50, which is the target announced by the government when it declared a two-week extension to its intensive social distancing measures. But Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) Director Jung Eun-kyeong remained wary, noting that “disease control authorities are concerned that this might be a period of ‘silent transmissions.’”

“We must be on our guard against large-scale community transmissions. In particular, this is a time when we should be even more thorough with our social distancing, active testing and early identification of patients, and epidemiological studies,” she advised.

Eom Joong-sik, a professor of infectious diseases at Gachon University Gil Medical Center, said, “This decline in new diagnoses will only be significant if it can be sustained for another two weeks or so.”

By Choi Ha-yan, Lim Jae-woo, and Park Da-hae, staff reporters

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