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Prime Minister Kimm Boo-kyum speaks during a roundtable on COVID-19 vaccinations for teenagers held at Seoul Seongdong-Gwangjin District Office of Educational Support on Wednesday morning. (Yonhap News)

The South Korean government has decided to lower the number of people allowed to gather in private meetings to four, starting Saturday and running until Jan. 2. The restriction on the size of private gatherings will be applied uniformly across the country.

“We plan to briefly halt our gradual return to normal routines 45 days after we finally managed to begin that process,” said Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum. “More important than anything else right now is reducing the amount of face-to-face contact and minimizing the amount of time people remove their masks as much as possible.” The comments came during a COVID-19 meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on Thursday.

As a result, no more than four fully vaccinated individuals will be able to enter restaurants or cafes together. People who aren’t fully vaccinated will only be allowed to enter such facilities alone or get takeout or delivery.

The government has decided to limit the operating hours of public facilities based on whether they serve food and whether masks can be worn. Nightclubs, restaurants and cafes can only remain open until 9 pm. Movie theaters, concert halls and internet cafes can only stay open until 10 pm, though an exception has been made for private academies that help teenagers prepare for their university entrance exams.

Furthermore, the number of people permitted to attend large events and gatherings will be reduced, and the use of vaccine passes will be expanded for exhibitions, expositions, and international conferences above a certain size.

“During the discussion of these measures, the members of the Committee on the Recovery of Normal Life from COVID-19 and many experts agreed on the need to support the small business owners and self-employed individuals who will once again be harmed by tightening pandemic restrictions,” Kim said.

“Along with compensation for damage resulting directly from restricting hours of operation, the government also intends to provide more generous support in the form of ‘disease control subsidies’ for the practical difficulties entailed by expanding the vaccine passes.”

The government plans to quickly release a concrete support plan following discussion among the related ministries.

“When we began the gradual return to normal routines last month, I candidly said it could ‘be paused at any time according to changing circumstances.’ During this pause, the government will be shoring up our medical response capabilities,” Kim stressed.

“We hope the public will respond by actively getting vaccinated. A third shot for older people, meaning those in their 60s and above, is a particularly urgent matter,” he went on to say.

By Joh Yun-yeong, staff reporter

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