Name? Moon Jae-in
Westphalian identity? South Korean
Age? 67
Why is he in the news? He is and he is not, it depends on what newspaper you consume and what you focus on there. Next to all the horror stories about Europe, there are some articles looking at Korea and how they have handled Covid-19.
Why do we care? For the past few weeks, we have been going on about Europe’s measures to combat the spread of the Coronavirus and how they are too extreme and potentially harmful in the long term. We would very much appreciate Korean measures being taken into consideration in our home countries.
Why should you care? If our leaders watch closely they might adopt the same measures after the initial lockdowns. We’re obviously being optimistic but hey, we could use a bit of that lately.
Who else cares? The Koreans, as they are looking over to Europe in disbelief, asking themselves what happened to once such a proud continent.
Any further comments? So what are the measures we have been teasing about for so long? It is the very basic surveillance of phones and credit cards of the people infected. Once a person tests positive, all people in the area or who could have crossed that person now get a notification on their phones with instructions about testing locations and quarantine advice. By doing so, South Korea has been able to contain a sudden spread of cases since late February, effectively bringing new infections down to a few dozen a day. Instead of locking down entire countries or cities, the officials only lockdown housing blocks or small areas of cities, if needed. These are then cared for with aid packages for two weeks so that nobody needs to leave the complex and can respect the quarantine. Moreover, Korea did not close its borders. Travellers arriving in South Korea have their temperature measured and need to download an app which tracks their location. On this app, they must report their health status twice a day. With these measures, the Koreans are less constrained and can continue their daily lives more freely than many Europeans.
