Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Moon calls for tighter immigration measures against omicron variant
President Moon Jae-in speaks during a pan-governmental meeting at the Presidential Office of Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap
By Anna J. Park
President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday instructed aides to swiftly implement tighter immigration measures against the omicron variant of COVID-19, shortly after health authorities reported the nation's first suspected case of the variant.
Moon made the remark after he was briefed that health authorities have conducted a genome sequencing test on a couple who recently arrived in South Korea from Nigeria and tested positive for COVID-19, presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said in a statement.
Moon also instructed aides to swiftly develop test kits for the omicron variant and come up with a new containment strategy against the new COVID-19 variant, Park said.
The couple, who were fully vaccinated, visited Nigeria on Nov. 14-23 and tested positive for COVID-19 last Thursday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The results will be announced Wednesday.
From Sunday, South Korea restricted visa issuance and arrivals from eight African nations, including South Africa, to block the inflow of the new COVID-19 strain, joining a host of nations in imposing travel bans from and to the African region. (Yonhap)