The ruling, which went into effect on Wednesday, required all foreign workers in the capital to undergo coronavirus tests, or fines of up to 2 million Korean won ($ 1,775).
In a news release from the city government on Friday, officials in Seoul said they now only recommend foreign workers working at high-risk businesses with dense and unventilated work environments, which will be tested by March 31. businesses are being tested, the release added.
The policy has already been implemented in the neighboring province of Gyeonggi, as well as several other cities and provinces. It is not clear whether other provinces will follow in Seoul’s steps.
The policy has been described by many as xenophobic and discriminatory. Ruling party lawmaker Lee Sang-min described it as an “unfair racist act against foreigners” and warned that it would lead to “international embarrassment”.
Seoul City officials have previously denied that the policy was discriminatory, citing statistics showing that the share of foreign residents under confirmed Covid-19 cases in the capital jumped from 2.2% last year to 6.3% this month has. “I urge people’s participation and see it as a measure to protect the safety of the individual rather than to discriminate,” Song Eun-cheol, the official city of Seoul, said earlier Friday.
The verdict threatened to create something of a diplomatic incident, but a growing list of countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, expressed their opposition.
The British ambassador to South Korea, Simon Smith, posted a video on Twitter on Thursday in which he said: “We do not consider these measures fair, they are not proportionate and probably not effective either. Smith said he case also discussed with the National Human Rights Commission of South Korea.
Canadian Ambassador Micheal Danagher tweeted the report again, saying he and other ambassadors were making similar representations. Punishments by ambassadors to the government of their host country are rare, although the embassies no longer advised their citizens not to abide by government rules.
The US Embassy in Seoul also tweeted on Friday: “We have expressed our concern with senior Korean authorities and are working hard for a fair and equitable treatment of all US citizens in our shared efforts to stop the pandemic.”
Both Seoul City and South Korean health officials have previously avoided direct questions about the epidemiological reasons for testing foreigners, but not their Korean colleagues.