seigex

It's 80,000krw (~$63) for foreigners if taken at the airport. Not sure what the clinic price is.

invalyd

Now even those four dates are gone, with ticket sales only available from July 1st. Not looking good for my wife's June 30 departure

Edit: the flights still show up as scheduled on ExpertFlyer though from June 15 onward but 0 tickets for sale, not a great sign.

Stingyguy

PCR test cost in a local clinic nearby is W120,000. There was one about 25 mins away by cab for W90000 but they close at 6PM and we only knew about it around 5:30pm so we ended up doing it in that nearby clinic. Someone posted that it's free in any of Gangnam community health centers but we're an hour away.

Stingyguy

So we're already on our 4th day and nobody has verified if we had our test or not unlike the last time we came in May 2021 where we got a call to do our test. This begs the question if we did not do our test if authorities would actually care or go after us if we did not do our test? Just curious.

seigex

Did they provide any details while going through immigration on how you're suppose to report it before day 3, or are you just supposed to expect a call?

Stingyguy

We were provided a piece of paper that says we are exempted from quarantine because we were vaxxed and registered our vax record in Q-CODE. The second paragraph then tells us about testing on day 3 for our quarantine free stay to be valid. Unless we missed it big time, nowhere in the paper that says we have to call in to report that we had our test. The clinic we went to also only asked us where to send the result whether to pick up or send by email which we opted for email. I guess if you're positive that's when they report you but otherwise it seems like no one really tracks it. It seems that the Q-CODE is all that matters.

I've also watched on Arirang TV that Korea has scrapped the self-isolation requirements for non-vaxxed arriving foreigners. Did not get the full story on it though.

seigex

DId you provide your passport #, or any kind of code when registering for the test? If so they might be tracking it directly from the clinics.

Paella747

After two years of the pandemic, I'm finally heading back to Korea to visit friends (after living there for 15 years/leaving six years ago but visiting several times up until the pandemic).

I haven't really kept up on the changing requirements because work didn't allow me to go back... Since the websites that provide "updated" information are nowhere near as current as the folks here at FT , I'm wondering if somebody could point me to a step-by-step list of the things I need to do in order to 'get in' to Korea now. Thanks for any input! Are the complete steps listed in any one place?

Andrew Kim

6/8 - visitors' vaccination status irrelevant. Quarantine is no more (previously the unvaxxed had to quarantine). Negative predeparture test sufficient to be granted entry (along with k-eta) along with promise that a postarrival test will be taken
6/1 - window for postarrival pcr expanded to 3 days from the previous 1 day
5/23 - predeparture rapid antigen now acceptable in lieu of predeparture pcr, but an antigen must be taken 1 day before boarding (while pcr is two days). Home tests not allowed

Paella747

Thanks so much! Is there a link to some website or pass I need to sign up for? The one that people have mentioned uploading their results to prior to departure?

anth

Wondering if anyone on this thread might be able to help: I am due to travel AMS-HEL-ICN on 23 June for four days for work. I'm fully vaxxed but recently had Covid (as in last week) and therefore all my PCRs will still show up positive for a while. Pre-departure RAT should be OK, but the post-arrival PCR at ICN (no other option but PCR) will likely still show up positive. I called the Korean Center for Disease Control (KDCA) today and had a nice chat with the translator for 30 minutes as my case was discussed. The conclusion was that "maybe" a certificate of recovery from the GGD (NL health system, where I am based) would be accepted if it had all the correct information on it (date of positive test, test provider, etc). I'm not sure I want to risk getting stuck at ICN if it's just a "maybe" - so I thought I'd ask here. Has anyone traveled to Korea with a recovery certificate?

seigex

scroll up a few pages, I list out step by step, and there are a couple replies to me with additional information. As to your other question, K-ETA required (need to know which hotel you will be staying at, costs about $8 USD paid in KRW) which is a travel authorization, and you need to fill out Q-Code with your passport/vax and departure test info. You can pre-fil up until the page where you enter your test info, then go back and edit from 2 days before your flight to finish it up and get your QR code

K-ETA site: Welcome - K-ETA
Q-Code site: Q-code - Quarantine covid19 defence (kdca.go.kr)

You will also need a PCR at least 2 days before, or a Rapid Antigen 1 day before (though it's preferred to opt for PCR as you don't want to get caught with a false negative, just to end up being positive and having to quarantine in Korea).

Paella747

Got it! Thank you! I thought I was up-to-date on reading the thread before I posted my question, but I hadn't seen that! Great info! Appreciate the help. I can't believe I'm only a week away from ttoekpoekki. Thank god.

seigex

I'm in the same boat, but still 3 weeks away. Pretty excited, never been to South Korea before.

Stingyguy

We did provide our passport # but that's about it.