Seoul will summon the Japanese ambassador to protest the "irrational" quarantine measures imposed on people arriving in Japan from South Korea to fight the coronavirus, while accusing its neighbor of political ulterior motives on Friday.
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The two countries have close economic ties and are both very close allies of Washington. But their relationship has been sealed for decades by historical disputes dating back to the time (1910-1945) when the peninsula was a Japanese colony.
This quarrel had degenerated last year with serious commercial and diplomatic tensions, which had almost resulted in the breach of a military intelligence sharing agreement, particularly for American policy vis-à-vis North Korea.
On Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that anyone arriving in the archipelago and having recently stayed in China or South Korea should spend 14 days in quarantine.
"Irrational and excessive" measures
In a statement, the South Korean foreign ministry urged Tokyo to review its "irrational and excessive" measures and announced that it had summoned the Japanese ambassador.
"We can't help but wonder if Japan has ulterior motives beyond trying to contain the epidemic," he said. South Korea added that it could take retaliatory measures by saying that it was examining "all possible options" to ensure the safety of its nationals.
South Korea is the country with the most Covid-19 cases after China, the cradle of the epidemic. Seoul announced Friday that its case number is now 6,284. Seven new deaths have been reported by the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), bringing the epidemic to 42 dead. Japan, for its part, has 360 confirmed cases and six deaths.
"Posture"
Some 40 countries and territories have banned the entry of people who have recently been to South Korea, and some 20 others have implemented quarantine measures.
Japanese decisions have already had an effect on "thousands of South Koreans," said Park Chul-hyun, a Tokyo-based South Korean columnist who canceled a three-day trip to Seoul for fear of suffering a quarantine on his return.
"Thousands of South Koreans arrive in Tokyo every day and I imagine that the majority have canceled their trips," added Mr. Park, denouncing a "posture" from Japan in the run-up to the Olympic Games.
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The inflation of the number of cases in South Korea is explained in particular by an intense campaign of detection launched last month because of the very important spread of the disease within the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a religious organization accused by some to be a sect. It is from a follower, a 61-year-old woman who had attended several religious ceremonies in February in the city of Daegu (south) before knowing that she was contaminated, that Shincheonji became one of the main vectors of the coronavirus in South Korea.
More than 90% of South Korean cases have been reported in Daegu, which has more than 4,600 people infected, and in the neighboring province of North Gyeongsang.
