Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, is attending a party member meeting to gather opinions on the merger from party members at Daily Convention (wedding hall) in Seo-gu, Gwangju, on the afternoon of the 21st. (Photo by Yonhap News)
[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, demanded that President Moon Jae-in "personally engage in diplomatic visits to vaccine-developing countries."
On the 22nd, Ahn stated on Facebook, "The president should become the head of a government-wide vaccine procurement diplomatic delegation composed of the relevant ministers, lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties, medical professionals, and related business figures, and personally embark on a tour."
He continued, "Please visit the governments of related countries to request cooperation, and directly visit the developing companies to request priority supply," emphasizing, "If the government requests, I can also participate in that special envoy group."
He strongly criticized the government’s vaccine situation. Ahn said, "While putting on a show of talking with the CEO of Moderna to reassure the public that everything would be fine, that moment was just a temporary escape, but they did not clearly inform us about a definite supply contract regarding the quantity and timing of vaccines," adding, "The vaccination rate is worse than that of third-world developing countries, and we have become a state that only envies countries like the UK and Israel, where people walk around without masks."
Ahn told President Moon, "The vaccine issue should not be left solely to bureaucrats," and said, "All countries that signed vaccine purchase contracts early last year had their heads of state personally involved. Although it is very late, the president must now step forward with the determination of the head of South Korea’s vaccine task force (TF)."
He added, "At the upcoming Korea-US summit at the end of May, visible results on the vaccine issue must be shown," and said, "We must mobilize the entire network of the private and public sectors and create a schedule for the president to personally visit Pfizer and Moderna beyond the meeting with President Biden and meet with their CEOs."
Meanwhile, Ahn is currently under self-quarantine after coming into contact with a COVID-19 confirmed case or overlapping movement paths. The People’s Party explained, "On the 21st, it was confirmed that one of the people who met with Leader Ahn during the Gwangju schedule overlapped with the movement path of a COVID-19 confirmed case," and added, "To comply with COVID-19 prevention and quarantine rules, self-quarantine will be maintained until the contact’s test results are confirmed."
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