S.Korea adopts electronic travel authorisation to stave off infectious disease

Interior view of the Korea Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) Center, located at Gimpo International Airport, during its official launch, in Seoul, South Korea on Aug 11, 2021. - Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters): South Korea is implementing for the first time an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system for overseas visitors from September, as the Covid-19 pandemic forces open the way for a policy previously opposed by the country's tourism industry.

The justice ministry said the system will be a long-term way to pre-emptively head off any contagious disease as well as limit the number of undocumented immigrants, which had risen in the years before the pandemic.