Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
EXCLUSIVE Seoul, Gyeonggi may change mandatory COVID test plans
Foreign workers line up to take coronavirus tests in Guro, Seoul, Tuesday, as the city government ordered all foreign workers there to undergo testing by March 31. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM Korea) has said that the Seoul City and Gyeonggi Province Government's administrative orders mandating all foreign workers to undergo COVID-19 testing will be revised following protests from foreign residents who called the orders “discrimination” against them.
James Kim, chairman and CEO of AMCHAM Korea, told The Korea Times, Thursday, that he conveyed the foreign business community's concerns to the central government, which said the directives would be changed.
The notice came two days after Seoul City, following consultation with the central government, issued the order for all foreign workers and their employers to have a COVID-19 test by March 31. The city's plan was similar to a measure adopted the previous week by Gyeonggi Province after sporadic infection clusters began emerging at companies employing foreigners in many parts of the country
The orders have brought a huge backlash from the foreign community with some complaining that they were creating xenophobia and treating foreigners unfairly, while others noted that the local governments' guidelines were unclear on how they were being applied.
“I am very happy to report that we received a preliminary notice from the Korean government that the directives of Seoul City and Gyeonggi Province requiring all foreign workers to be tested will be corrected. We understand that the official announcement from the Korean government will be made soon and will report the details once they are available,” Kim said in his message to AMCHAM members.
Kim said he had a virtual meeting earlier in the day about the issue with Foreign Investment Ombudsman Kim Sung-jin, the head of the Office of the Foreign Investment Ombudsman at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.
“We already informed our members that they were not going to get testing ― the government is going to cancel the order. That's what we are told,” Kim told The Korea Times.
“We should all be receiving clarification that we should not have to worry about it at all, so I think the Korean government has changed its stance on it.”
Kim stated that he delivered the concerns from the foreign business community about why the mandate was highly discriminatory against foreign residents and how the business community was disappointed.
“In the meantime, we really appreciate the Korean government that the corrections came out very, very quickly. We think this is the right way to do it.”
Another foreign chamber of commerce also said it has confirmed with the government that those subject to the mandatory testing will be limited to workers at “high-risk” workplaces, not all foreign workers.
Regarding the comments by AMCHAM, a Seoul City official said they have not been informed of any changes yet.
“We heard the AMCHAM sent an official letter of protest to the central government this morning, but the city government has not heard of any plan for change so far,” the official said.