South Korea said on Tuesday it would ban its citizens from travelling to border areas with Israel and Lebanon amid rising tensions in the Middle East.
The foreign ministry said the ban would begin on Wednesday in areas near the Blue Line, referring to the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, where parts of the international border are disputed.
The ministry also “strongly advised” its citizens in Lebanon and Israel to leave those countries as soon as possible.
A temporary advisory will also be issued urging people not to travel to Iran, the ministry said in a statement.
Ministry spokesman Lee Jae-woong said the travel advisory was issued following the killing of a commander of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and the head of the political wing of Hamas, the group that rules the Gaza Strip.
The killings follow a deadly rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights late last month.
“The South Korean government … hopes that diplomatic efforts to ease tensions, such as a ceasefire and negotiations for the release of hostages, will not stop,” Lee said in a briefing.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran last week. The attack prompted threats of retaliation from Israel and raised concerns that the conflict in Gaza was spiraling into a wider Middle East war. A State Department spokesman said on Monday that Washington was urging other countries through diplomatic channels to tell Iran that it was not in their interest to escalate tensions in the Middle East.
The ministry said more than 500 South Korean citizens are currently living in Israel and about 120 in Lebanon. It warned that South Koreans who travel to border areas could be punished under the passport law.
By last summer, at least four South Korean citizens had been convicted of violating a ban on traveling to Ukraine without permission, according to media reports.
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