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's 'self-praise' in virus fight taking flak
From left are President Moon Jae-in, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Health Minister Park Neung-hoo
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
The government's hasty self-praise for its fight against the coronavirus outbreak is drawing criticism.
Critics say that it is too early for the administration to bask in optimism given that the nation still reports more than 100 cases daily despite the pace slowing.
The number of infections in the country stood at 7,513 as of Tuesday, making it the third-largest outbreak behind China and Italy.
On Monday, President Moon Jae-in said in a meeting with his senior secretaries that, if successful in slowing down the virus spread, Korea could be seen as a model case for other countries in COVID-19 containment. However, he also said the government needs to avoid too much optimism about the situation as small-scale cluster infections have been reported across the nation.
The Moon remark is a throwback to that of Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo, who also said, Sunday, the nation's quarantine systems are working effectively to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
“Korea is making a new model beyond the previous quarantine system,” Park said, adding Korea is conducting the largest number of virus tests a day in the world and the results come out the fastest.
However, medical experts said the country is once again “popping the cork on the champagne” too soon, as the number of infections and deaths continue to rise.
“I was surprised to see the health minister made such a remark,” Jacob Lee, professor of Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, wrote on his Facebook.
“I think the minster seemed to do so to ease public concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, but I do not think that it is necessary at this point.”
Hong Hye-geol, a doctor-turned-TV personality, said it is ridiculous for government officials to make such a remark even though Korea has the largest number of infections per capita, and to brag about the largest number of tests in the world.
“The number of tests is large because the nation has a large number of people suspected to have caught coronavirus. However, the government is declaring a victory by turning it the other way around,” Hong said on his Facebook.
Last month, President Moon and his Cabinet staff said the spread of the highly contagious virus would come to an end pretty soon, but since then, thousands of infections have broken out.
The government's self-praise was also found in the foreign ministry.
On Feb. 27, Saudi Arabia introduced an entry ban on all travelers from Korea due to a surge in coronavirus cases here, but the following day it decided to ease the regulation, banning only those with a tourist visa.
Since then, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has bragged about Saudi Arabia's decision change, saying its diplomatic effort to ease restrictions paid off.
However, on Sunday, the Middle Eastern country again decided to bar the entry of people who have been in Korea regardless of their visa type, in an attempt to prevent COVID-19 infections.
In response, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha called to her Saudi Arabian counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, to protest the decision and explain Korea's quarantine efforts, asking him to allow businessmen from Korea to enter.
In response to criticism, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said, Tuesday, no one in the government is optimistic about dealing with the coronavirus.
“Although new infections are slowing, we still have lots of works to do against coronavirus. In that respect, it is not proper to make a comment on the government's handling of the virus,” Chung said in a pan-government meeting to deal with the epidemic.