Travel to Korea more often as India is now a quarantine-exempt country

NEW DELHI: Korean government has announced to exempt the arrivals from India from 14-day mandatory quarantine if they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 disease.

Effective October 1, Indian and Korean nationals would be able to travel to Korea from Indian soil without subjecting themselves to 14-day self-isolation at the Korean airport, and they could meet their relatives and others without extending their leaves.

With this, India stands included in the list of over two dozen quarantine-exempt countries.

The 14-quarantine is a must for all foreigners as well as for Korean citizens including the diplomats and ministers on their arrival at the Korean airports even if they are fully vaccinated in the country wherefrom they are coming.

The announcement came after the Federation of Korean Associations in India that represents 15,000 Koreans staying in India made a representation to the Korean embassy in New Delhi and the Korean government in Seoul requesting them to relook into the matter and exempt arrivals from India from mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Earlier, the Korean Chamber of Commerce (KOCHAM) India too made representation to the Korean Embassy and the Korean government early this year, and again about two weeks back.

Top Korean community leaders who recently assembled in the extraordinary general meeting held in Gurugram, India resolved to file a formal request to their embassy in New Delhi to get India included in the list of exempted countries.  The meeting was led by Euy Don Park, Chairman, Federation of Korean Associations that represent eight regional Korean Associations in India.

Euy Don Park, President, Federation of Korean Associations in India, told Asian Community News (ACN) Network that the Korean government announced the exemption of quarantine for the travelers to Korea from India, who can apply under certain purposes of travel to Korea.

“This announcement was released last week on September 17 after we put up our proposal from Federation of Korean Associations in India to the Korean embassy in India and Korean government in Seoul,” Mr. Park added.

Previously, many India-based Koreans could not reach on time to attend funerals of their close relatives, while others failed to take care of their ailing parents, or missed crucial engagements as they had to undergo 14-day quarantine after reaching airports in Korea.

This happened as India didn’t find a place in the list of countries from where the fully vaccinated foreign arrivals are exempted from 14-day isolation in Korea.

Former Korean ambassador Shin Bong-kill who completed his over 3-year term in India in June this year had to self-isolate himself for 14 days in a small room at the designated government facility in Seoul after he landed at the airport.

Effective from July 1 this year, the South Korean government lifted the mandatory 2-weeks quarantine condition on the arrival of its own citizens as well as foreigners of many other countries whose citizens were vaccinated two weeks before entering Korea, but not India.

The beneficiaries included South Korean citizens, visa-exempt travelers, and short and long-term visa holders coming to South Korea for business, academic, humanitarian purposes or who are overseas South Koreans coming to meet their family members.

The condition was they must have been inoculated by Covid19 vaccines approved by WHO such as AstraZeneca, Moderna, Sinovac, Pfizer, Janssen, Sinopharm, and Covishield.

Till August, a total of 26 countries were added to the exemption list and eight more countries including Japan, Kazakhstan, and Myanmar also have been added to the tally in September.

Earlier this year, the Korean government was moved with the request to include India in the list of exempted countries.

The Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KOCHAM) secretariat had officially asked the Korean government to consider their request at the beginning of this year, just before the start of the 2^nd wave of Covid-19 in India. However, the Korean Government reserved its decision on India. But KOCHAM again moved its government very recently.

Though the total number of Covid-19 positive cases in India has reduced considerably, the positivity rate among the people coming from India to Korea is still very high as compared to those coming from other countries.

“We have been continuously asking our government as it’s also affecting the operations of the Korean companies. Many companies have a limited number of Korean staff and when they leave they are gone for a minimum of 3-4 weeks because of a 14-day quarantine condition. Therefore, companies are reluctant to give leave to their staff,” said Heel-chul Jung, Secretary-General, KOCHAM that represents about 750 Korean companies in India.

According to sources, many Korean citizens in the event of emergencies failed to attend the funeral of their parents or close relatives due to this restriction even when they were administered two doses of the Covishield vaccine in India.

Korean companies are facing issues due to this restriction as they are discouraging their Korean staff from taking leave and going to Korea. Already facing the staff crunch, their employees don’t return early after going to Korea because of the mandatory 14-day quarantine requirement as it resulted in long leaves.

Korean companies are facing these problems and that’s why they encourage their staff to go to countries for leisure that don’t require them to quarantine like Maldives and others.