Next month s Lunar New Year holidays could be the first mask-free holiday season for Koreans in three years, as the government is considering lifting the indoor mask mandate before the public holiday, which runs from Jan. 22. While the Ministry of Health and Welfare is set to announce on Friday detailed measures on when and how the mask requirement will be relaxed based on discussions with medical experts, some advisors taking part in the talks said it is highly likely that the mandate will be gradually lifted from mid-January at the earliest.