[People人] Two Months of Struggle Against 'COVID-19'... 47 Briefings Instill Trust in Anxious Citizens

Jung Eun-kyung, Head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters for COVID-19
Built Expertise Through MERS Experience… Appointed as the First Female Director of KDCA
"Too Busy to Even Touch My Hair" Short Cut, 24-Hour Emergency Duty

The photo on the left shows Director Jeong Eun-kyung giving a briefing on COVID-19 on the 26th of last month. The photo on the right was taken on the 3rd of last month.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Since Jung Eun-kyung became the director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) in 2017, she had held press briefings only four times as the head until last year. However, the situation changed drastically this year. By the 25th, she had held a total of 47 briefings, speaking for a total of 2,400 minutes. It all began when a Chinese woman arriving at Incheon Airport on January 19 showed abnormal symptoms during quarantine and was confirmed as a COVID-19 case the next day.

At that time, Director Jung stood before the public and thoroughly informed them about the new infectious disease. Judging that society was becoming lax just days before the Lunar New Year holiday, she sought cooperation from the public and medical institutions in a brief and firm tone. Since December of the previous year, when many COVID-19 cases emerged in China, she had designated Wuhan, the epicenter, as a contaminated area and strengthened quarantine measures for arrivals as a preemptive response.

Now, about two months later, COVID-19 has completely changed our daily lives. While various evaluations of the government's quarantine policies are ongoing both domestically and internationally, the majority of the public supports Director Jung and the KDCA. She has maintained composure, conducting briefings calmly and consistently. It is said that she rarely raises her voice in daily work or interactions. However, there have been moments when her voice choked and she briefly paused while mentioning those who died from COVID-19.

◆Taking Responsibility and Being Demoted During the MERS Crisis = Graduating from Seoul National University College of Medicine in 1989 and becoming a family medicine specialist, Director Jung began her career at a public health center in Gyeonggi Province. In 1995, she entered public service as a research officer at the National Institute of Health, the predecessor of KDCA. Since then, she has been closely involved with infectious diseases such as measles. Her emphasis on the role of frontline public health centers and epidemiologists during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak stems from this experience. She understood better than anyone the importance of initial quarantine efforts at the frontline. Around the time KDCA was officially established in 2004, she worked in key departments within the agency and handled disease and emergency medical fields while moving between the Ministry of Health and Welfare and KDCA.

During the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, she faced challenges while working on the frontline. She had returned to KDCA from the Ministry of Health and Welfare the previous year as the head of the Disease Prevention Center when the MERS crisis erupted. Director Jung led the task force, focusing on reporting domestic patient cases and their movement paths. However, after the MERS outbreak ended, she was recommended for disciplinary action of suspension following an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection. Her superior, the director of KDCA, was dismissed. Kwon Jun-wook, director of the National Institute of Health and deputy head of the quarantine headquarters, who has been sharing briefings with Director Jung since last month, was also facing similar disciplinary action at the time as the public health policy officer at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

In November 2018, Jung Eun-kyung, Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, is being interviewed by Asia Economy at the National Pension Service Chungjeongno Building in Seoul. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

◆Promotion to Director After Regime Change = Suspension is considered a severe disciplinary action in the public sector, essentially meaning one should quit. Although Director Jung accepted it calmly, those in the public service who knew her achievements sought to defend her. Lee Geun-myeon, then head of the Ministry of Personnel Management, recently revealed in a column that he struggled to reduce the severity of her disciplinary action. He said, "I knew well her style of focusing solely on infectious disease prevention without considering personal interests."

Those around her say that her expertise became even stronger after experiencing the MERS crisis. Ultimately, Director Jung received a minor disciplinary action of a one-month pay cut and remained at KDCA. A few months after the regime change the following year, she was promoted to director. She was the first female director of KDCA since its establishment in 2004, an unusual appointment that skipped the deputy director level (Grade 1).

◆No Time to Fix Hair but Concerned About Juniors = Officials at the quarantine headquarters, which operates in a 24-hour emergency state, are reported to be living and working at the emergency situation room or the Health and Welfare Human Resources Development Institute. Director Jung is no exception. Although there are many internal matters to manage within KDCA, the rapid increase in patients centered in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, along with sporadic cases nationwide, requires real-time communication and coordination with local governments, public and private medical institutions, and others to oversee the response.

To save time on hair care, she even cut her hair shorter, and her increasingly gaunt appearance has raised concerns among those around her. However, when asked about her health, she briefly replied, "I am holding up well." She also expressed regret over the increased workload on her staff rather than herself. Given the specialized nature of quarantine work, it is indeed difficult to quickly increase personnel in a short period.

"Let us all, including myself, do our best to develop our capabilities to become top experts in our respective fields. (Omitted) I will be a colleague who stays with you until the end of your precious journey," she said in her inauguration speech, which greatly helped strengthen internal unity.

President Moon Jae-in is encouraging the staff who are maintaining an all-out effort to respond to COVID-19 at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency in Osong, Chungbuk, on the 11th. On the left is Director Jung Eun-kyung.