Japan, South Korea protest China visa stoppage in COVID spat

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and KIM TONG-HYUNG
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan and South Korea are defending their public health restrictions on travelers from China after Beijing stopped issuing new visas in both countries in apparent retaliation. Chinese embassies stopped issuing new visas for South Koreans and Japanese on Tuesday. It wasn’t clear whether China would expand the visa suspensions to other countries that have imposed stricter virus testing on passengers from China following its COVID-19 surge. According to South Korea’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency, about 17% of the 2,550 short-term travelers from China since Jan. 2 have tested positive.