Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Government hit for poor diplomacy, clumsy responses to epidemic
Koreans from Wuhan, China, arrive at Gimpo International Airport, Friday. A total of 350 of the first batch of 368 people will stay at two government-run facilities in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, and in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, for the 14 days. / Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
The Korean government finally evacuated 368 Koreans from the epidemic-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan, Friday.
Despite the “half-successful” evacuation ― with still more than 350 stranded there ― twists and turns during the rescue plan have put the government in the hot seat, raising questions about its readiness to cope administratively and diplomatically with the fast-spreading epidemic that has now been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announced the government would send two flights each on Thursday and Friday to evacuate about 720 Koreans from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
However, hours before the planned takeoff time of the first chartered plane on Thursday morning, the foreign ministry announced the flight was delayed because China had approved only one flight.
“We believe that the Chinese authorities are working in a way in which they give the go-ahead for one plane and then receive requests sequentially, because it has been receiving many similar requests from other countries like the United States and Japan for provisional flights,” Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Thursday.
The foreign ministry also said changes in flight plans were not an issue just for Korea.
“The U.S. also had to see its plan to send charter flights change on multiple occasions,” a ministry official said.
A U.S. chartered flight flew 240 Americans back to California Wednesday.
Japan was also planning to send multiple chartered flights simultaneously to expedite evacuation of Japanese citizens, but Chinese authorities have only allowed one flight at a time.
Some critics believe the Korean government made a show of taking swift action for the safety of the people despite not having finalized a coordinated plan with the Chinese government.
In response to the criticism, another ministry official said, “The dispatch of up to four flights was the government's plan, not an agreement with the Chinese side, and eventually, China told us to send one flight (per day).”
This case also raises questions about the government's lack of diplomacy.
On Tuesday night, Kang had telephone talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi over the coronavirus outbreak and other issues and during the phone call, she asked for the Chinese government's assistance with the Korean government's plan to bring home Koreans from Wuhan.
In addition, a senior foreign ministry official told reporters, also on Tuesday, that Korea was one of the first countries, if not first, to talk to China about the airborne evacuation operation.
However, the government could only bring back its citizens two days after the U.S. and Japan had already done so.
“China gave the United States and Japan the arrival and departure slots first of all the countries,” a high-ranking official with the Shinzo Abe administration told the Asahi Shimbun, Thursday. “That shows which countries China places importance on.”
The foreign ministry declined to comment on the report.
The government also went back and forth with regard to repatriating Koreans with symptoms related to the virus.
On Wednesday morning, it announced it would bring back those with symptoms as well, but it only took half a day to change the plan after talks with China.