Chennai

The 1,000th business traveller from Korea arrived here on Friday since the COVID-19 lockdown was enforced in March, the Deputy Consul General of the Republic of Korea H Y Lee said on Friday.

"The Consulate General of Republic of Korea, Chennai takes pleasure in announcing that the consul general welcomes the 1,000th business traveller since COVID-19 enforced lockdown (was imposed) in March," an official release said.

South India is home for around 300 Korean companies which include Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, Samsung Electronics and others who directly employ five lakh people besides creating two million jobs indirectly.

With suspension of international flight operations and visa restrictions due to lockdown in March, the Korean companies which have a presence here faced difficulties in bringing Korean businessmen to operate their manufacturing facilities here, the release said.

The Consulate with help from State and Central governments arranged the landing of charter flights enabling movement of the businessmen to South India whenever necessary.

"The Korean passengers carried COVID-19 negative certificates after taking one or two RT-PCR tests for the safety of the local community," the release said.

"The consulate takes great honour in the way South Korean companies uniquely retained their national employees here and brought in new employees from Korea to ensure smooth business operations," the release added.

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