South Korea has extended its special advisory against overseas travel for another month due to the global spread of the new omicron variant of COVID-19, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

In the advisory, the ministry recommended citizens to cancel or postpone non-essential trips abroad until Jan. 13, while asking those overseas to take measures to prevent exposure to the virus, such as refraining from going to large-scale events.

The travel advisory was first issued in March and has been extended every month as countries struggle with outbreaks of COVID-19 variants.

The ministry said it plans to review changing the special advisory in phases into a warning system for each country, depending on the virus situation and the vaccination rate in foreign nations and progress in travel bubble consultations. (Yonhap)