Korea Railroad to Resume Video Conference Service at Train Stations Starting Next Month

A Korea Railroad official is inspecting the video conference system in a meeting room at the train station. Photo by Korea Railroad

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The video conference service at train stations, which was suspended due to the spread of COVID-19, will resume.

Korea Railroad (KORAIL) announced on the 22nd that starting next month, non-face-to-face video conference services will begin in 24 conference rooms across 18 train stations nationwide.

The target stations include Seoul, Yongsan, Yeongdeungpo, Sindorim, Gwangmyeong, Daejeon, Iksan, Seodaejeon, Yeosu Expo, Suncheon, Dongdaegu, Busan, Singyeongju, Cheonan-Asan, Gwangju, Mokpo, Ulsan, and Masan stations.

Previously, KORAIL had temporarily suspended conference room rentals and video conference services from March last year to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

However, reflecting the recent increase in demand for online video conferences at stations, KORAIL explained that it will resume conference room rentals and video conference services.

In particular, the video conference service is being resumed by establishing a video conference system supported by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ ‘Online Shared Video Conference Room Construction Project,’ which provides equipment such as large monitors and cameras, as well as the entire video conference solution.

However, conference room rentals within stations will only accommodate 50% of the room capacity and will be resumed and operated on the condition of compliance with quarantine rules according to the government’s social distancing policies. Rentals will be available from the 5th of next month, and detailed information such as reservations can be found on the KORAIL website.

KORAIL started the conference room rental business in 2005, and it is estimated that more than 500,000 people used conference rooms at 21 train stations nationwide until 2019.

Choi Yoon-hwan, Director of Asset Management at KORAIL, said, “We have transitioned the train station conference rooms to non-face-to-face and video conference methods in accordance with the changed circumstances due to COVID-19.”