Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Korean-Australian student told to leave Sydney boarding school over virus fears
By Jung Min-ho
Ravenswood School for Girls on Sydney's upper north shore. / Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
A Korean-Australian student has been asked to leave her boarding school in suburban Sydney amid fears of the new coronavirus from China.
, a local daily, reported Wednesday that the 10th grade student, surnamed Kim, from Korea, was forced to leave her dormitory at Ravenswood School for Girls ― even though she had not been to China since visiting Shanghai in October.
The outbreak of the deadly virus began a month ago in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Kim, who had been medically cleared and allowed into her dormitory last week, was told to leave hours later after the school decided to require students who have recently traveled to “other affected areas” to stay home for 14 days.
Infection cases had been confirmed in Korea and Australia by then.
Her father told the newspaper that he believes Ravenswood was “massively overreacting.”
“Despite (my) protest that she did not visit China (since the outbreak) and did not have contact with any visitors from China and no symptoms of any virus, the school maintained that they were erring on the safe side,” he said. “To take the measure of not only preventing her from joining class, but telling her to leave her dorm, seems like an extreme response.”
The measure goes beyond the New South Wales government's policy that requires students who have traveled to China to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
Principal Anne Johnstone said Ravenswood “established our safety and health protocols as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of all our students and staff in response to the unprecedented, rapidly evolving public health crisis presented by the novel coronavirus.”
Kim has since moved to a different school, which allowed her to attend immediately.