Abe Orders Review of Entry Permission for Athletes Participating in Tokyo Olympics

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] It has been reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed to consider measures allowing the entry of athletes and officials participating in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, postponed to July next year.

According to Japanese foreign media on the 22nd, Prime Minister Abe gave this instruction during a meeting of the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Task Force held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence that evening. It is analyzed as an intention to prepare the hosting environment one year ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

He also stated that consultations will be held to resume business exchanges with 12 East Asian and Southeast Asian countries and regions where the spread of COVID-19 is being controlled. The consultation targets include Korea, China, Taiwan, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, and Laos. Earlier, the Japanese government announced in June that it would hold consultations to ease entry restrictions with four countries: Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand.

As with the first round of consultations, the second round is expected to prioritize allowing the entry of businesspeople and others, while postponing travel for tourism purposes. As part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Japanese government currently prohibits the entry of foreigners from 146 countries and regions in principle.

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