[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 28th, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha held a headquarters-mission meeting with Chinese and Vietnamese diplomatic missions regarding the response to entry restrictions on Koreans.
At this meeting, Minister Kang conducted a comprehensive review of the situation and focused on discussing measures to strengthen the protection of overseas nationals. The meeting was attended by 12 heads of diplomatic missions from China and Vietnam, where many Koreans reside, along with members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' comprehensive response team for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Minister Kang has held several video conferences with heads of missions in China, while this was the first meeting with the Vietnamese missions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs proactively expanded and reorganized the comprehensive response team on the 23rd to actively respond to entry restrictions worldwide. In addition to the Overseas Koreans Consular Office and the Northeast Asia Bureau responsible for China, all regional bureaus have been included in the comprehensive response team, operating 24 hours a day.
Minister Kang emphasized that each diplomatic mission should make maximum diplomatic efforts in response to the excessive entry measures or procedures against Korea recently implemented by several countries and regions, and requested that mission chiefs ensure thorough protection of overseas nationals so that discriminatory or excessive measures against our citizens do not occur.
Furthermore, since there is a possibility that restrictive measures may be sporadically expanded without prior notice in each jurisdiction, she asked that missions closely coordinate with local authorities and airlines to promptly notify such changes and minimize inconvenience to citizens. Minister Kang also particularly urged special efforts to ensure that the reduction in human exchanges with China and Vietnam does not affect the activities of Korean companies within their jurisdictions.
In response, the heads of missions reported on the status of entry restriction measures for Koreans in their jurisdictions and their future response plans, and pledged to make every effort to promptly disseminate local information related to entry restrictions to reduce inconvenience for our citizens.
An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "We will mobilize all diplomatic channels, including all overseas missions, to actively explain our quarantine efforts related to COVID-19 to each country and continue efforts to prevent the expansion of restrictive measures."
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