Ruling party chairman undergoes self-quarantine 5 times

Ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Lee Nak-yon delivers a speech to fellow lawmakers during a plenary session at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Monday. Lee had to stay home for a day after a reporter covering the National Assembly tested positive for the virus the same day. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

Ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Rep. Lee Nak-yon has to date not tested positive for COVID-19. But he has been placed under self-quarantine five times so far after coming into indirect contact with people infected with the coronavirus. In the four times he has been tested for the coronavirus, each result has been negative.

As a lawmaker and ruling party leader, he has had to visit many locations and participate in events and in each of the five cases another visitor or participant later tested positive for COVID-19. A virus outbreak at a radio broadcasting company in mid-August, in particular, put Lee into self-quarantine as he used a microphone that a radio show panelist had previously used and who tested positive only hours after Lee's visit.

He was in the middle of campaigning to become party leader, but had to suspend all face-to-face campaign activities and instead participated in online ones. Before the end of the quarantine period, he was elected as party chief.

Most recently, Lee had to stay home for a day after a reporter covering the National Assembly tested positive for the virus, Monday. Lee did not have direct contact with the reporter but met the party's policy planning committee chief Rep. Han Jeoung-ae who was in a meeting room where the reporter was present.

Although Lee has consistently tested negative for the virus, concerns are rising that he could enter self-quarantine again or be infected with the virus himself while meeting with other politicians and residents. If he is infected, it could cause a larger stir as he regularly meets with ranking government officials and President Moon Jae-in.

The National Assembly closed some facilities, Monday, following the latest coronavirus case, with all meetings slated for Tuesday morning being delayed to the afternoon. The latest partial shutdown of the Assembly came just two days after it reopened following a two-day total shutdown following an opposition party official testing positive for COVID-19, Sept. 3.