China "No visa if you visit 9 countries, including Korea, within 8 to 15 days."

China has decided to add nine countries, including South Korea, to its visa-free pilot policy from the 8th.

China's foreign ministry said on its website that it will implement a "unilateral visa-free policy" by December 31 next year for ordinary passport holders from South Korea, Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein.

As a result, people with general passports from nine countries, including South Korea, are not required to obtain a visa if they visit China within 15 days for business, travel, tourism, visit relatives or transfer purposes.

This is the first time China has included South Korea in its visa-free list.

Earlier in February 2023, the Chinese government resumed issuing short-term visas to Koreans, which had been suspended due to the spread of COVID-19, and allowed them to stay visa-free for 72 or 144 hours only if they transited in China.

China has expanded the number of countries subject to visa-free pilot policies sequentially since November last year, with 24 countries, including Thailand and Singapore, and 20 countries, including France, Germany and Italy, where China unilaterally implements visa waivers.

The announcement added eight European countries and South Korea, bringing the number of unilateral visa-free countries to 29.

However, the United States and Japan, which were included in the list of Chinese group tours along with South Korea in August last year, were not included in the visa-free policy.