COVID-19: Our experience in South Korea

Nik Mehta Obe, the deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Seoul, has been serving in Korea since 2018. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Nik Mehta Obe

It was 18 months into our posting in South Korea that COVID-19, really started to take hold here. Up until that point, our posting had been going well. I started as the deputy ambassador in the British Embassy in July 2018. This was our third positing as a family after wonderful experiences in Uganda and Malaysia. I had also been in Iraq just after the war in 2003.

There are so many things that we have loved about being in Seoul. At the very top of this list is the contrast between the traditional and modern: stunning 14th-century palaces next to soaring skyscrapers; commuters watching Netflix in high definition on the subway and then stopping at a centuries-old market for dinner; women in elegant, graceful hanbok listening to the contagious sounds of K-pop. The working environment has also been interesting as we worked with the Korean government to secure a post-Brexit Free Trade Agreement. All of this, of course, took place against the backdrop of the rise and fall of tensions with North Korea.

In the early days of the virus, we watched the case count rise in China, hoping that somehow we would avoid the same fate. However, I think we all knew that the significant air traffic between ROK and China meant it was a matter of when, not if, the virus would cross the Yellow Sea. The first confirmed case in ROK was on Jan. 20, 2020. One month later, the count was 204 with one death. By March 20, there were 8,652 positive cases and 94 deaths. As I write this, there are 10,806 cases in Korea and 255 deaths. On April 30, Korea recorded zero cases of local transmission for the first time in 75 days.

Whilst each and every COVID-19 related death is a tragedy on some level, Korea's success in reducing the rate of infections has been nothing short of remarkable. The mantra of testing, tracing and treating using technology has been highly effective and rightly praised across the world. I have followed with admiration how quickly tests were rolled out and the innovative ways in which they were delivered: from drive-through centres to purpose-built telephone boxes. It's impressive that websites can tell you where a particular patient has been.

Like in many countries, social distancing and school closures have complimented this approach. School closures in particular have been challenging for everyone ― Korean and international parents and children, and no doubt teachers too. In our house, my wife has been home schooling our 10- and six-year-olds with online provisions from their amazing school for nine weeks. Their days are varied. Some days there's harmony: children sit calmly and are motivated to finish off everything. Other days are long. One child struggles with working out the angles on a triangle.

The other tears up a drawing in frustration. The phone rings. A glass of water spills across the table. But this is life and, as with most things, a new normal has evolved. With the typical resilience of childhood, our children have adapted well. They're mostly happy to spend lots of time playing at home and are relearning what it is to make their own fun. Simple pleasures, like growing carrots by the windowsill or setting up a tent indoors, keep them busy. While many parts of normal life are on hold, we've also gained time. Time to be filled, time to be spent together, and time to just exist. It's a strange new reality, but perhaps these days are an opportunity to discover some of the things our formerly busy lives took away from us.

The embassy has remained open throughout this period and with the exception of a small core team, most staff have been working remotely. This has worked well in large part because we have good technology and working from home has long been encouraged. Our focus as an embassy has, of course, changed. We are doing what we can to share Korea's experience and to support the effort in the U.K. to reduce the threat from the virus. The situation at home remains deeply concerning but there are hopeful signs that the curve is flattening. We are also helping with the global effort to bring British travellers back to the U.K. It is an enormous task but one that the entire U.K. Foreign Office network has risen to.

It's of course hard to know when this will all end. The numbers in Korea continue to go in the right direction, however concerns remain around a potential second or third wave. As we now enter a new phase of “lifestyle quarantine” ― with the reopening of facilities such as sports centres, libraries and cinemas ― our natural desire to “restart” our lives must be tempered with caution. I also suspect that, when the time comes, going back to any kind of pre-COVID normality will bring its own set of challenges.

Until that time, we pray that the situation in the U.K. and elsewhere in the world will improve soon. On a personal level, despite being thousands of miles away from home I remain incredibly grateful for the efforts of the medical staff in the U.K.'s National Health Service. Like their Korean counterparts, they have done a fantastic job under extreme levels of pressure to keep the public safe.

Nik Mehta Obe is the deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Seoul.