South Korean businessmen who landed at Hanoi’s main international airport move to waiting buses after clearing quarantine checks on July 31, 2020. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which provided this photo, said this marked the first time that South Korean entrepreneurs have entered the country by the airport since the COVID-19 outbreak.
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The Vietnamese government allowed a group of South Korean business people to enter the country through the Hanoi’s main international airport despite its coronavirus entry ban on foreigners, a South Korean business lobby group said Friday.
This was the first time that the Vietnamese government opened the capital-based airport to South Korean business people since the outbreak of the coronavirus.
A chartered Asiana Airlines plane with 192 South Korean business people on board took off frpm Incheon International Airport at 9:48 a.m. on Friday, and arrived at Noi Bai International Airport at 2:10 p.m. on the same day, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry revealed.
The 192 business people were the second group among 3,953 South Korean business people and their families who were granted entry ban exemptions from the Vietnamese government.
The first group consisting of 544 business people and family members entered Vietnam through the Van Don International Airport on July 22.
South Korean businesspeople line up in the departure lobby of Terminal 1 at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, on July 22, 2020, before their departure to Vietnam. (Yonhap)
Thus far, the Vietnamese government has granted entry ban exemptions for about 5,000 South Korean business people and their families who entered the country through the Van Don International Airport or the northern and southern cities of Haipong and Nha Trang.
This was the first time for the Vietnamese government to open the Noi Bai International Airport to South Korean business people and their families who were granted entry ban exemptions.
The Vietnamese government allowed 217 South Koreans to enter the country via the Noi Bai International Airport on July 7, but it was a humanitarian measure for students studying there and their parents.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
