S. Korea Backs Thai Gov’t Move to Amend Pandemic List

Workers wearing protective gears help clean each other's suits after disinfecting as a precaution against the coronavirus at a subway station in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

BANGKOK — The South Korean diplomatic mission in Bangkok said it supported the government’s plan to remove the country from a list of countries with coronavirus outbreak.

In a statement sent to the media, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea said the coronavirus pandemic in South Korea is now firmly under control, even including several clusters of infections that broke out recently.

“Korea is making every effort in preventing the spread of the virus out of Korea, until now there has been no outbound Korean who has been identified positive abroad,” the statement said. “There is no single person who has been tested positive from 7,000 Thai nationals returned to Thailand from Korea ever since last December either.”

It added, “It is nothing but unfairly stigmatizing Korea if the ROK continues to remain on the list, despite its improved situation.”

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The Thai government is empowered by the law to place restrictions on travels from countries listed under the Disease Infected Zones of the Coronavirus Disease 2019.

But officials said earlier this week there was a plan to take off South Korea and China from the list, citing the improvement of outbreak situations in those two countries.

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The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China was not available for comments as of publication time.

The South Korean statement also acknowledged that even if the country is no longer classified as an outbreak zone, travels between the two countries will not necessarily happen at the same time.

“Removing a country from the DIZ and permitting travellers to enter Thailand are completely different matters,” it said.