Gyeonggi rules out option to mandate foreign workers to present negative COVID-19 test results

▲ Foreign workers wait in line to receive COVID-19 tests at a testing site in Hwaseong, 39 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 14, 2021. (Yonhap)

provincial govt-foreign workers

Gyeonggi rules out option to mandate foreign workers to present negative COVID-19 test results

SEOUL, March 18 (Yonhap) -- The Gyeonggi provincial government on Thursday withdrew a controversial policy option that would have required foreign workers to present negative COVID-19 test results when seeking employment.

The announcement came amid criticism that the measure, if implemented, would discriminate against foreign nationals.

The provincial government said Tuesday it is considering issuing such an administrative order as cluster infections at companies that employ foreign workers have continued to pop up in the region.

"After deliberation, we've decided not to push for the order. We apologize for causing confusion," Im Seung-kwan, a senior quarantine official, said at a press briefing.

The government of Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, earlier ordered all foreign workers in the province to take COVID-19 tests before March 22 as it struggles to cope with a recent hike in new coronavirus cases in foreigner-dense areas and workplaces.

The Seoul metropolitan government also ordered foreign workers and their employers to get tested for the virus by the end of this month.

The city of Seoul said it will fine employers who do not abide by the order and expand the testing capacity up to 3,600 a day during the period.

Britain took issue with the measures.

"The British Embassy has made clear to the national government and to the Seoul and Gyeonggi administrations that we consider these measures are not fair, they're not proportionate, nor are they likely to be effective," British Ambassador to Seoul Simon Smith said in a video posted to his Twitter page.

"We've also raised the lack of clear and timely information about the process. We've also raised the issue as a matter of urgency with the Korean National Human Rights Commission," the envoy said, referring to South Korea's human rights watchdog.

But Smith advised British workers in affected areas to follow the requirement to take COVID-19 tests, as failure to do so will involve a considerable fine.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved