SEOUL, 6 April 2020:
South Korea will hold the April 15 parliamentary elections at 14,330 polling stations across the nation, Yonhap news agency quoted the election watchdog as saying today.
To promote voters’ accessibility, 99.1% of the polling stations will be set up on the first floor of designated facilities or at those with elevators, according to the National Election Commission (NEC).
South Korea will hold the general elections in the midst of its fight against the new coronavirus outbreak.
To prioritise voter safety, the NEC earlier said voters will have their temperature checked at the entrance and should keep a distance of at least one metre from others while waiting to vote. Polling booths and ballot stamps will be disinfected.
The watchdog has advised people to wear face masks to cast their ballots. It also plans to establish makeshift polling booths to enable people with Covid-19 symptoms to vote.
The NEC said it has sent election-related information booklets about political parties and candidates to households. It has also sent ballots to nearly 10,530 people who have applied to cast ballots at their residences.
Covid-19 patients being treated at hospitals or designated facilities and people in a two-week isolation period at home will be able to vote via mail if they applied to do so between March 24 and 28.
Meanwhile, a Taiwanese woman was deported from South Korea after refusing to stay at a quarantine facility, the justice ministry said.
The woman, whose identity was withheld, was deported to Taiwan late yesterday after she disagreed with paying expenses to stay at a government-designated quarantine facility, according to the Ministry of Justice.
The Taiwanese national first arrived at Incheon International Airport on Thursday and was sent to a quarantine facility the next day after agreeing to go under quarantine at the facility.
The woman, however, was sent to the immigration office after she refused to pay the expenses.
The ministry approved the deportation upon the judgment that her move was “a refusal against the government’s quarantine measures to contain the Covid-19 outbreak”.
This is the first case in which a foreigner has been deported for refusing to stay at a quarantine facility. Last week, eight foreigners were denied entry for rejecting mandatory self-isolation.
South Korea also said today it will expand the size of its free-trade zones to provide more leeway to businesses in line with efforts to boost slowing exports amid the global virus pandemic.
Under the plan, the size of the free trade zone of Incheon International Airport, the main gateway to South Korea, will expand around 10% to 3.3 sq km, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
South Korea operates free trade zones in major cities, including Incheon and Busan, to promote foreign investment and exports by providing businesses with eased regulations and customs benefits.
The zones accommodate a wide array of businesses, from manufacturers to logistics firms.
The size of the zone at the Busan Port in the southern city of Busan will also expand by 30% to 12 sq km, it added.
The expansion will pave the way for South Korea to host a combined investment of 1 trillion won (US$808 million) from 50 companies from different segments while creating some 22,000 new jobs, according to the ministry.
The decision comes in line with South Korea’s efforts to revitalise its ailing exports amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been disrupting the global business activities and supply chains.
South Korea’s exports fell 0.2% in March from a year earlier in the face of the growing economic fallout from the global new coronavirus pandemic, missing a market consensus of a 1.2% gain.
South Korea’s exports had been decreasing for 14 consecutive months until a slight rebound in February.
– Bernama