Jinyoung and Park Won-soon Face 'Disaster Leadership' Test... Showing Presence Day by Day (Comprehensive)

Animal protection organizations, including the Korea Animal Protection Alliance, held a press conference on the 29th near the Chinese Embassy in Jung-gu, Seoul, condemning China's wild animal consumption culture, which is considered the cause of the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia). / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Sang-do] Amid the spreading fear of the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia), the swift responses of Minister Jin Young of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon are drawing attention. Through continuous establishment of response systems and emergency meetings, they are showing a presence, presenting a different image from the discord surrounding 'Gwanghwamun Square' last year.

Minister Jin spent a busy time during the Lunar New Year holiday responding to the Donghae pension fire and the novel coronavirus. Immediately after the Donghae pension fire occurred, he ordered the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to operate its own situation management team and dispatch a rapid response team to the site. He also promised to assign dedicated officials one-on-one and conduct thorough investigations.

After the Lunar New Year holiday, the novel coronavirus became prominent. Minister Jin said, after receiving a report on the situation from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Related agencies and local governments should do their best to ensure there are no blind spots in quarantine and suspected patient management." To the public, he urged, "The government and private sector will work together to make every effort to prevent the spread," and asked them to "strictly follow personal hygiene and prevention guidelines."

Jinyoung, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

Subsequently, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety formed a novel coronavirus countermeasure support headquarters. This is the first time in about 1 year and 4 months since September 2018, when a confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) occurred, that a countermeasure support headquarters at the Ministry level has been established for an overseas novel infectious disease.

Minister Jin has canceled his attendance at the opening ceremony of the e-Government and Digital Economy Cooperation Center held in Uzbekistan and is also coordinating his visit schedule to the European Union (EU) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Mayor Park Won-soon is also holding consecutive countermeasure meetings, focusing all efforts on preventing the spread of the infectious disease. On the 29th, he called the heads of 25 subordinate autonomous districts to City Hall to deliberate on countermeasures. At this meeting, he also expressed his intention to actively utilize the city's administrative infrastructure. Mayor Park said, "The 1339 call center of the Ministry of Health and Welfare seems to be difficult to connect due to the high volume of calls," and added, "We plan to operate a system centered on our city's (information call center) Dasan 120 from now on."

He also promised, "District offices will likely need to spend additional costs to prevent the spread of the infectious disease, and we will fully support this by utilizing the disaster management fund."

Mayor Park Won-soon of Seoul / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

At an emergency countermeasure meeting held at City Hall on the 26th, Mayor Park stated the response principle, saying, "Overreaction is better than delayed response." The next day, on the 27th, he visited Seoul Boramae Hospital to inspect the site, focusing daily on responding to the novel coronavirus.

During the MERS outbreak in June 2015, Mayor Park also criticized the Park Geun-hye administration's complacent response and declared that Seoul City would take disaster response-level measures directly.