Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Opposition contender Yoon calls COVID-19 'Wuhan virus'
People Power Party presidential contender Yoon Seok-youl speaks during a meeting with a group of healthcare experts at his election camp in Jongno District, Seoul, Thursday. Joint Press Corps
By Nam Hyun-woo
PPP contender criticized for instigating unnecessary anti-China sentiment
By Nam Hyun-woo
Yoon Seok-youl, a presidential contender from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), again created a stir with his rhetoric, by referring to COVID-19 as “the Wuhan virus.”
He also denounced the Moon Jae-in administration's decision not to place a travel ban on incoming travelers from China in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak in 2020, calling it “political quarantine.”
Yoon made those comments while criticizing the Moon government's quarantine and social distancing policies, but this backfired and he himself is facing criticism for instigating unnecessary anti-China sentiment for his use of the term, which is considered by some as an inaccurate and xenophobic description.
During a meeting with a group of healthcare experts on Thursday, Yoon told reporters, “The U.S. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were developed to target the Wuhan virus.”
COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, located in the Hubei province of central China, in December 2019. After being called various names such as “the Wuhan pneumonia,” “the Wuhan virus” and “the China virus,” the name of COVID-19 became common following World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendation in February 2020 to refrain from referring to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or a group of people when naming a virus to avoid stigmatizion.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who repeatedly used terms like “China virus” and “kung flu,” faced criticisms for fueling anti-Asian sentiment.
Korea has also seen similar controversies over the disease's name. Early last year, the United Future Party (UFP), the predecessor of the PPP, caused controversy by using terms like Wuhan COVID-19 or Wuhan pneumonia. During a meeting with President Moon in February last year, then-UFP Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn said, “The Wuhan coronavirus situation is a human-caused incident.”
Though COVID-19 became the dominant term for the disease in Korea, some far-right conservatives still use terms invoking Wuhan or China in an apparent expression of blame toward the pandemic's country of origin.
After calling COVID-19 the Wuhan virus, Yoon also said “COVID-19 became rampant in December 2019 with Wuhan being the epicenter.”
“Doctors and experts have strongly demanded an entry ban on incoming travelers from China, which was scientifically reasonable,” he said. “It is natural to think that there was a political consideration when the government did not follow the science.”
Passengers from China are being guided to a designated immigration checkpoint at Incheon International Airport on Feb. 5, 2020, for intensive quarantine checks for COVID-19 infection. At the time, the Korean government banned entry from Hubei province, where the coronavirus originated, but not from other parts of China. Korea Times file
In February last year, the Korean government placed a temporary entry ban on incoming travelers from Hubei province, but did not extend the same regulation to other regions of China. President Moon faced criticism at the time that he was neglecting the safety of Koreans for the sake of diplomatic and economic relations with China.
Yoon's comments stirred criticisms from the ruling bloc.
“Despite the WHO recommendation, Yoon continued his ludicrous remarks, calling COVID-19 the Wuhan virus to instigate hate and discrimination,” Rep. Kim Yong-min of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea said Friday.
Rep. Kang Byung-won of the party also wrote on Facebook that “Yoon is emulating (then-UFP head) Hwang Kyo-ahn,” and “it is a pity that Yoon is trying to make up for his continued verbal errors by instigating anti-China sentiment.”
Yoon has been suffering a downturn in his support rate as a presidential contender recently, following a string of controversial comments he made about the 2011 Fukushima disaster, feminism, Korea's statutory workweek scheme and other sensitive issues.