By Kang Hyun-kyung

President Yoon Suk Yeol / Yonhap

President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday that there was no political calculation whatsoever in South Korea's anti-COVID measures to screen travelers entering the South from China, emphasizing that the decision was made purely on scientific grounds.

He made the remarks amid mounting diplomatic tensions between Seoul and Beijing following China's suspension of short-term visas for South Korean nationals a day earlier.

In his opening remarks during a policy briefing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yoon said that the COVID-driven border control is a sovereignty issue and therefore no other country is in a position to comment on or take disruptive actions against the measures.

He said Seoul-Beijing diplomatic tensions are unnecessary.

Citing news articles on the spike of COVID-19 infections in China, he said some media outlets reported that nearly 200 million Chinese were infected with the virus.