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| President Yoon Suk Yeol / Yonhap |
He made the remarks amid mounting diplomatic tensions between Seoul and Beijing following China's suspension of short-term visas for South Korean nationals a day earlier.
In his opening remarks during a policy briefing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yoon said that the COVID-driven border control is a sovereignty issue and therefore no other country is in a position to comment on or take disruptive actions against the measures.
He said Seoul-Beijing diplomatic tensions are unnecessary.
Citing news articles on the spike of COVID-19 infections in China, he said some media outlets reported that nearly 200 million Chinese were infected with the virus.
"We decided to stop issuing short-term visas for tourists entering South Korea from China against this backdrop, and China took retaliatory measures in response," he said. "It was reported that there are some tensions going on between the two countries. I don't think this is necessary."
Yoon emphasized that South Korea's stricter measures on travelers entering the South from China were based on scientific grounds.
He said the measures implemented by South Korea "are neither a diplomatic or trade issue. We simply did that to protect our citizens."
He added that there is no political consideration or other motive behind South Korea's decision to impose certain measures after the outbreak of the virus.
"Nations deal with respiratory diseases or other infectious diseases based on science and we don't use double standards. We don't treat our alliance differently from other nations in our response to infectious diseases," he stressed.
Yoon said the early spike of COVID-19 cases in South Korea three years ago was partly due to the former administration's ineffective policy responses.
The Korean Medical Association had recommended the Moon Jae-in government at the time to introduce a ban on tourists entering South Korea from China shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19 as the virus originated from the country. The KMA issued the same recommendation six times, but the Moon government turned a deaf ear to them.
Yoon said the Moon government did not heed the KMA's recommendations because they prioritized South Korea's relations with China, so the nation suffered the consequences.
The president directed Foreign Minister Park Jin to strengthen communication with his Chinese counterpart to explain South Korea's position on the anti-COVID measures, so that the issue can no longer lead to unnecessary diplomatic tensions.
