Koica Safety Measures Committee Fully Committed to Preventing 'COVID-19' Infection Among Domestic and International Personnel

7th Regular Inspection Meeting Held
Continuous Monitoring of Overseas Offices and Volunteers in 44 Countries... Comprehensive and Dispatch Country-Specific Safety Guidelines Established

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) announced on the morning of the 12th that it held the 7th regular inspection meeting of the Safety Measures Committee at the Global Safety Center Comprehensive Situation Room on the 4th floor of the KOICA headquarters in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do.

KOICA formed the Safety Measures Committee to respond to COVID-19 on the 28th of last month and has been focusing all efforts on ensuring the safety of overseas offices in 44 countries and World Friends Korea (WFK) volunteers through seven regular inspection meetings.

KOICA has been monitoring real-time situations in each overseas country where its employees and volunteers are stationed, sharing integrated safety guidelines, and preparing response measures tailored to each host country. It is providing preventive supplies such as masks and hand sanitizers to each overseas office and is closely monitoring areas with confirmed cases such as Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. In Vietnam, in response to the government’s school closure order, KOICA arranged for a total of 94 volunteers to remain on standby at home.

Additionally, employees have been advised to avoid transiting through infected countries when assigned overseas or returning home, and personal conduct guidelines have been provided to prevent infections that may occur at airports and other locations. Furthermore, KOICA checks the flight routes of returning personnel and has established behavioral guidelines such as leave for employees returning from regions with confirmed cases, in accordance with the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s work guidelines.

Domestically, disinfection work has been carried out at the headquarters and two Global Talent Training Centers located in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, and Yeongwol-gun, Gangwon-do, to prepare against infection.

In addition, KOICA has set guidelines related to COVID-19 including △ banning overseas business trips related to project execution in February △ canceling overseas office chief meetings and procurement project briefings △ holding volunteers scheduled for dispatch in February on standby △ postponing the invitation process for overseas trainees in February.

Song Jin-ho, Director of the Social Value Management Headquarters, said, “KOICA is making every effort to prevent infections among employees and overseas volunteers,” and added, “Through the Safety Measures Committee, KOICA will comply with timely behavioral response plans to prevent and control infections among personnel dispatched to overseas offices as well as domestically.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.