The South Korean Foreign Affairs Ministry says it regrets that its immigration officials have earned a reputation for refusing entry to Thai tourists, according to the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry.

A meeting between the Thai permanent secretary of foreign affairs, Saran Charoensuwan, and the South Korean first vice minister of foreign affairs, Chang Ho-jin, was held as the #BanTravellingtoKorea (in Thai) trended on X (formerly known as Twitter) after many Thais shared their experiences of South Korea Immigration officers refusing them entry to the country.

The hashtag made the social media site's weekly top 10 after a traveller claimed she had been to South Korea four times but was rejected on her latest visit despite having a return ticket as well as tours and hotel bookings.

According to Mr Saran, Mr Chang said that he regretted such incidents and did not want them to affect how people think of his country or the countries' diplomatic relationship.

Mr Chang, Saran said, explained that the stricter rules may have been enforced by some officers, but added that the country does not have any policies in place to refuse Thai visitors from gaining entry.

The South Korean Ministry also introduced some measures to discourage Thais working illegally in the country.

Meanwhile, the Thai Labour Minister sent a notification to the Department of Tourism and the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA) to discourage agencies from enabling Thais to work illegally in South Korea.

He said the ministry estimated that about 100,000 Thai labourers worked illegally in South Korea compared with the 93,118 Thai workers who had obtained work through the government.

The ministry acknowledged South Korea's problem with illegal workers so it had set up a task force for screening illegal labourers at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports, he said.