(Eagle News)–Not all travelers from South Korea will be banned from entering the country.
According to the Immigration chief Jaime Morente, only travelers from North Gyeongsang Province, Daeugu, and Cheongdo will not be allowed to enter, following the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
People will not be allowed to travel from the Philippines to those regions either.
Only Korean permanent resident visa holders, overseas Filipino workers, and student visa holders are allowed to return to South Korea, the immigration bureau said.
According to Morente, foreigners coming from South Korea will be screened to see if they came from the three areas of concern.
Immigration Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said the Korean government pledged it would issue a certification that would distinguish if a national came from those areas.
Arriving passengers from South Korea, on the other hand, are required to present a Resident Registration Certificate (RRC) and their national ID.
“While it is a challenge to identify which passengers from South Korea actually came from said areas, the Korean government is doing measures to ensure that the virus stops spreading to nearby regions,” Medina said.
“We have also sought the assistance of airlines, requiring them to collect and disclose to immigration authorities the full itineraries of passengers with a travel history to Korea within the last 14 days,” Medina added.
Exempted from the travel ban are arriving Filipinos, their foreign spouse and children, Philippine permanent resident visa holders, and members of the diplomatic corps.
Transiting passengers are also allowed as long as they don’t pass through North Gyeongsang Province, Daegu, and Cheongdo.