Health ministry in hot seat over 'thoughtless' promotional video, leak of quarantine documents

The Ministry of Health and Welfare has come under fire for its inappropriate promotional video on quarantine rules, Sunday. / Screen captured from YouTube

By Lee Hyo-jin

The Ministry of Health and Welfare has come under fire for both its “thoughtless” quarantine rules promotional video and leaked documents about revised social distancing rules ahead of an official announcement.

The ministry uploaded the two-and-a-half-minute video on New Year's Day on the ministry's social media channels. The clip features six people from various age groups dancing and singing at home as a way to beat the “corona blues” and encourage people to follow social distancing measures.

“The stay-at-home dance tutorial was posted to cheer people up amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic,” read the caption of the video.

However, the clip immediately drew criticism for making light of the serious COVID-19 situation, and violating the gathering ban on groups of five or more people currently imposed nationwide.

Also, many people pointed out the thoughtlessness of making noise by dancing and jumping in an apartment, considering the number of conflicts between neighbors involving residential noise complaints have grown as people spend more time indoors due to the pandemic.

Internet users left comments on the ministry's YouTube channel such as, “It is a total waste of tax money, which should have been directed to medical staff,” “So we are not allowed to gather in groups of five, but we are allowed to dance as a group of six?” and “They seem to be encouraging bothering your neighbors with noise, not promoting quarantine measures.”

Following mounting criticism, the ministry deleted the video and offered an apology. “We apologize for our lack of consideration,” Sohn Young-rae, a senior health official, said at a briefing on Saturday.

Sohn took a defensive position that no tax money was spent on the video adding that it was made independently by the ministry spokesman's office.

In addition to the controversial video, the ministry offered a further apology at the briefing, after a document on a planned revision to the social distancing measures was leaked a day before the official announcement.

A photo of the document, drafted by the Central Disaster Management Headquarters on Dec. 30, was uploaded on the internet, Dec. 31. It included details such as the extension of Level 2.5 until Jan. 24 and eased gathering bans in private cram schools and winter sports facilities.

“The leaked version contains different information from the final version,” Sohn said. “We apologize for causing social confusion.”

He stated that civil servants caught leaking confidential information are subject to punishment under relevant laws and they will determine whether to request a police investigation after looking into the intention behind the leak and relevant laws.