South Korea to Resume Issuing Short-Term Visas to Chinese Visitors from Feb 11

South Korea reportedly plans to resume issuing short-term visas to Chinese travelers on February 11 after China’s COVID-19 situation has eased, according to Seoul officials on Friday.

Last month, South Korea temporarily stopped issuing short-term visas to Chinese visitors after China abruptly dropped its “zero-COVID” policy, resulting in a surge of cases. As a kind of response, Beijing has stopped issuing South Koreans tourist visas for short-term stays.

In light of the decline in the number of infections among Chinese arrivals and the lack of new strains of the virus, South Korea’s vice interior minister in charge of disaster and safety management, Kim Sung-ho, announced that the government will resume issuing visas.