The Georgian embassy in South Korea has rejected a false claim that surfaced on Facebook alleging that South Koreans are the only foreigners who enjoy visa-free travel to the country. The posts boasted that the ex-Soviet nation “gifted” the privilege to thank Seoul for calling it by its preferred name Georgia, rather than the Russian-favoured Gruziya. However, citizens from 95 countries can visit Georgia visa-free for one year, not just South Koreans. The embassy explained that the inclusion of South Korea on this list of visa-free countries was not related to its decision to refer to the country as Georgia.
“The reason why this country grants one-year visa free access to only South Korea,” reads a Korean-language Facebook post shared on January 9.
“South Korea is the only country in the world to which Georgia grants one-year visa-free access,” it adds, showing a map of Georgia and pictures of mountains.
“This is because South Korea is the only country that calls it by its preferred name Georgia, while all other countries call it by its European name Gruziya to avoid confusion with the US state of Georgia.”
It claims the Georgian government was “touched” by Seoul’s move to use the country’s preferred name and “gifted South Koreans with one-year visa-free access”.
Similar Facebook posts made the same claim here, here and here, and it also surfaced on South Korean forum Humoruniv.
In 2011, Georgian authorities appealed to other states to officially refer to their country as Georgia, rather than the Russian-favoured name Gruziya — a reminder of a Moscow-dominated past which the ex-Soviet country’s pro-Western government is trying to eradicate.
South Korea said it was the first country to make the switch (archived link).
Georgian visa policy
But South Korea is not the only foreign country with visa-free access to Georgia.
“Georgia has a liberal visa policy and offers visa-free entry to citizens of many countries, not exclusively South Korea,” a spokesperson for the Georgian embassy in Seoul told AFP on January 17.
Georgia’s State Commission on Migration Issues lists a total of 95 countries on its website “whose citizens have the right to enter and stay in Georgia without visa, for 1 full year,” which includes South Korea (archived link).
According to the embassy, Georgia granted visa-free entry to South Koreans in 2015, following Seoul’s announcement in 2011 that it would officially call the country Georgia instead of Gruziya (archived link).
However, Georgia’s visa policy for South Korean citizens was not related to Seoul’s decision to call the country by its preferred name.
“The Georgian government granting visa-free status to South Korean citizens is not contingent on South Korea changing its exonym for Georgia from the Russian-favoured ‘Gruziya’ to ‘Georgia,'” the embassy explained.
“Visa policies are typically based on diplomatic relations and mutual agreements and are not typically influenced by the nomenclature of countries in foreign languages.”
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