President's Private Jet Arrives at Gimpo with 7 Returnees from Japanese Cruise Ship (Update)

2:20 AM Takeoff from Haneda, 6 Koreans and 1 Japanese Spouse

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The presidential aircraft (Air Force One No. 3), carrying six Koreans and one Japanese spouse who disembarked from the cruise ship 'Diamond Princess' docked at Yokohama Port, Japan, arrived at Gimpo Airport at 6:27 a.m. on the 19th. The presidential aircraft took off from Tokyo Haneda Airport at 2:20 a.m. earlier than scheduled that day.

The presidential aircraft departed Seoul Airport at noon the previous day and arrived at Haneda Airport at around 2:50 p.m. The six Koreans and one Japanese spouse who were on board the Diamond Princess, where a cluster infection of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) occurred, disembarked around 12:20 a.m. that day to return to Korea.

Immediately after disembarking, they boarded a bus prepared by the Korean Embassy in Japan and moved to Tokyo Haneda Airport. The medical team dispatched via the presidential aircraft checked the health status of the six Koreans and one Japanese spouse.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among the 14 Koreans on board the Diamond Princess has been rapidly increasing day by day. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced the previous day that 88 additional confirmed cases were identified among the cruise ship passengers after testing for COVID-19 infection. As a result, the total number of infected people on the Diamond Princess has risen to 542.

The eight Korean passengers who are not returning on the presidential aircraft this time are scheduled to disembark sequentially from that day if they test negative for COVID-19 according to the Japanese government's test results.