S. Korea's revised e-arrival card eases exchanges between Taiwan, South Korea: MOFA

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, in a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said will help facilitate exchanges between the two sides.

South Korea previously listed "Taiwan" as "Taiwan (China)" in the dropdown menus of its new online entry system, which had required people arriving in the country to fill out electronic arrival cards with information, including where they came from and their next destination.

Taiwan's MOFA had responded by requesting a revision and had even threatened to change the "Korea, Republic of" listing to "KOREA (SOUTH)" in Taiwan's online immigration system, should the issue not be addressed by the end of March.

The Taiwan side had postponed that retaliatory move, however, following reports that South Korea's foreign ministry planned to remove the "previous departure place" and "next destination" fields from its e-arrival card system, which means visitors will no longer have to state where they came from or where they are departing to.

Those changes were made as of Friday.

● S. Korea set to revise controversial e-arrival card: Report

In a statement issued on the same day, Taiwan's MOFA told CNA that it noticed that South Korea had removed the "previous departure place" and "next destination" fields from its e-arrival card system.

"We respect the system adjustments introduced by the Korean side to facilitate travelers and streamline entry procedures and look forward to further deepening bilateral relations on the existing foundation," MOFA said in a statement.

According to a previous report by Yonhap News Agency, a South Korean foreign ministry official said the change was aimed at simplifying entry procedures for all inbound travelers and aligning the digital form with the paper version, which did not have the "previous departure place" and "next destination" fields.

The official said the move was technical and administrative in nature and part of efforts to facilitate practical, non-official exchanges, rather than a response to any deadline set by Taiwan.