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Indonesian Embassy in Seoul suspends operations as COVID-19 cases rise
The offices of the Indonesian Embassy and the Indonesian Investment Promotion Center (IIPC) in Seoul have been temporarily closed amid concerns over the coronavirus.
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Workers spray disinfectant at the National Assembly in Seoul on Monday as part of preventive measures against the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019. (AFP/YONHAP)
T
he offices of the Indonesian Embassy and the Indonesian Investment Promotion Center (IIPC) in Seoul were temporarily closed on Friday amid concerns over the coronavirus following reports of a COVID-19 case in nearby Yeouido.
The Indonesian Embassy complex and the IIPC office are located within a close radius from Yeouido, Seoul’s main investment and financial district, where an employee of state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea was found to have COVID-19 on Thursday, as reported by The Korea Herald.
“The closure is only temporary, and it is to ensure a conducive service amid [the] outbreak of the [coronavirus], which has infected a victim within close radius to the Indonesian Embassy office,” Indonesian Ambassador to South Korea Umar Hadi said in a statement received by The Jakarta Post on Friday.
“This is also in line with [South Korea’s] policy to reduce the number of [people] meeting in the same place at the same time,” he went on to say.
With the office closure, public service counters for the handling of visas, passports and consular services in the embassy will be closed temporarily as employees are set to work from home during the closure.
Extra safety measures and efforts to disinfect the Indonesian Embassy complex and the IIPC Seoul offices were ongoing, Umar said.
The Yeouido case is among the latest to add to the rising number of coronavirus infections in South Korea, where 256 new cases were reported on Friday, bringing the total to 2,022 confirmed cases — the highest in the world outside China, AFP reported.
The Indonesian Embassy, in cooperation with the COVID-19 task force, is still working at the Indonesian Embassy Command Post in Seoul and the Aju Command Post near Daegu — the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea — to protect Indonesians living in the East Asian country.
In case of emergency, Indonesians are advised to call the Indonesian Embassy Command Post in Seoul at +82-10-5450-2181 or the Aju Command Post at +82-10-3601-9980. (gis)
