China to resume visa issuance for South Koreans

The Chinese embassy in Seoul says it plans to resume issuing short-term visas for travellers from South Korea starting February 18.

The move follows South Korea’s decision last week to end Covid-linked travel restrictions on Chinese nationals citing an improved COVID situation in its neighbour.

China halted issuing short-term visas to South Koreans last month, a retaliatory move after South Korea had imposed a number of COVID restrictions on travellers from China following Beijing’s abrupt ending of its “zero-COVID” policy.

China has seen a boom in outbound travel after the government abruptly abandoned strict COVID policies that included mandatory quarantines for all arrivals.

Seoul had planned to impose visa curbs until the end of February but restarted issuing visas last week, saying the number of infections among Chinese arrivals had dropped significantly.

Also Read: China Reacts To South Korea’s Covid Curbs

Zainab Sa’id