South Korea Announces Ban on Citizens Traveling to Israel-Lebanon Border Regions

South Korea said Tuesday that it will be banning its citizens from traveling to the border areas of Israel and Lebanon amid escalating concerns that a wider regional war will continue to grow.  

Beginning on Wednesday, South Korea’s passport law will prohibit citizens from traveling to areas near the United Nations-demarcated Blue Line, which separates Israel and Lebanon. The law has convicted some South Korean nationals for illegally traveling to Ukraine, according to local media reports. 

The foreign ministry’s announcement comes only a few days after the South Korean government issued a warning that “strongly advised” its nationals living in Lebanon and Israel to leave the countries as soon as possible.  

South Korea is one of several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Turkey, and Jordan, to call on its citizens to leave the region in recent days.  

Lee Jae-woong, a spokesperson with the South Korean foreign ministry, explained in a briefing that the initial travel advisory was made in response to the deaths of a senior military commander in Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the assassination of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.  

Seoul also indicated that it planned to issue an advisory against travel to Iran.  

“South Korea’s government…hopes that diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions, such as negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release, will not stop,” Lee said in a briefing.  

There are more than 500 South Korean nationals residing in Israel and around 120 in Lebanon, according to the foreign ministry.