"Implemented According to Quarantine Guidelines"
On September 16, Lee In-young, Minister of Unification, visited Panmunjom in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and toured the Dorim Bridge. Although social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area has been raised to Level 2, the Ministry of Unification announced on the 24th that tours of Panmunjom will continue as usual.
An official from the Ministry of Unification told reporters on the same day that in response to a question about whether the Panmunjom tour program would change due to the upgrade to Level 2 social distancing, "Panmunjom tours will be conducted in accordance with strengthened quarantine guidelines, and the preventive measures will be implemented accordingly."
However, he added, "If social distancing is further raised to Level 3, the tours of Panmunjom are scheduled to be suspended."
There are currently no plans to adjust the number of participants or the course of the Panmunjom tours.
The official explained, "Since the resumption, the number of participants has already been reduced to about half of the previous level, and there are no particular locations to adjust the course. However, T2 (the Military Armistice Commission conference room) is indoors, so the participants will be split into two groups to enter."
The Ministry of Unification resumed Panmunjom tours on the 4th after a 13-month hiatus, reducing the number of tours and participants to half for quarantine purposes, adjusting to two sessions per day with 40 people per session.
Meanwhile, on the 24th, the first day of the upgrade to Level 2 social distancing due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the number of new domestic confirmed cases rose again to the 300s.
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