Tag: South Korea

Some further good news for South Korea is that President Trump is not putting any new restrictions on the country and instead focusing on Europe:

The United States may “re-evaluate” its travel warning for Korea and consider an early lifting of restrictions as the new coronavirus situation in the country improves, U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday.

Trump announced in a national address that the United States will be suspending most travel from Europe for 30 days starting Friday at midnight, to protect against the coronavirus pandemic. The entry ban excludes Britain and also exempts U.S. citizens and permanent residents.  

“At the same time, we are monitoring the situation in China and in South Korea,” said Trump. “And, as their situation improves, we will re-evaluate the restrictions and warnings that are currently in place for a possible early opening.”  

The U.S. State Department has a travel advisory of Level 4, the highest in its four-tier system, urging Americans not to travel to Daegu, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Korea. It has a Level 3 alert for the rest of Korea, urging Americans to “reconsider” visits to the country. Korea has in place in its airports a multi-tiered health screening of individuals flying to the United States, as requested by the Trump administration.  

Trump said in his speech that the European Union “failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hot spots” and that as a result, “a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but members of the Korean government instead of making racist comments about U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris should instead be thanking him because he probably made the recommendation to not add any travel restrictions on Korea.

The trend is that things are getting better in South Korea which also continues to feature a very low mortality rate from COVID-19:

South Korea saw another decline in its daily new infections Friday, as massive testings in the southeastern city of Daegu, the epicenter of the new coronavirus here, were nearing an end, but health authorities were ramping up measures to contain cluster infections across the nation.

The 110 new cases of the coronavirus, which were detected Thursday and marked the lowest number of daily infections in more than two weeks, brought the nation’s total infections to 7,979. 

A total of 177 patients were discharged from hospitals Thursday after they were declared cured, marking the biggest one-day increase so far and exceeding the number of daily new infections for the first time since Jan. 20, when the virus was first detected on South Korean soil. 

Thursday’s additional cases, which followed the 114 new cases detected Wednesday, were also far below the daily increases of 500 or more last week.

So far, 67 people, mostly elderly patients with underlying illnesses, have died in South Korea from the respiratory virus that emerged in China late last year, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if you do the math 67 deaths out of 7,979 people infected comes out to a far less than 1% mortality rate. The rate is even lower because many people likely had the coronavirus and were not tested and recovered from it.

U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris visited Incheon International Airport on Wednesday to see how fever checks on U.S.-bound passengers are going, a day after South Korea’s government took over the anti-coronavirus screening mission from airlines.

Harris visited a boarding gate in the Second Terminal of the airport, west of Seoul, and observed officials taking the temperatures of passengers of an Atlanta-bound Korean Air plane and received a briefing about the screening process.

“Terrific visit to Incheon Airport to see 1st-hand ROKG measures to combat COVID-19 & mgmt of travelers to USA. Impressed w/ROK’s robust & comprehensive response efforts to limit the virus’ spread. Thanks to all for the hard work,” he wrote in his Twitter account afterwards. 

On Tuesday, the government said it will take over the anti-coronavirus screening mission from airlines and conduct health examinations on passengers boarding flights to the U.S. from the Incheon airport and Gimhae International Airport in the southeastern city of Busan.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The call center cluster infection in Seoul has caused an increase in the rate of detected daily infections in South Korea:

 South Korea reported an uptick in new daily coronavirus cases Wednesday, reversing five straight days of fewer new cases, as the country grapples with clusters of infections in Seoul and neighboring areas.

The 242 new cases, which were detected Tuesday, brought the nation’s total number of infections to 7,755, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

Still, Tuesday’s additional cases were far below the daily increases of 500 or more last week but higher than the 131 new cases detected Monday. 

So far, 60 people, mostly elderly patients with underlying illnesses, have died in South Korea from the respiratory virus that emerged in China late last year, the KCDC said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

There has been outbreak of the coronavirus in Seoul from a call center:

 With at least 50 cases, a call center in southwestern Seoul emerged as the biggest COVID-19 infection cluster here Tuesday, triggering concerns over potential mass transmission in the metropolitan area that is home to 25 million, or nearly half of the country’s population.

A high-rise in the neighborhood of Sindorim was closed and disinfected late Monday after workers at a call center on its 11th floor were confirmed as patients, according to Guro Ward, which oversees Sindorim.

In a meeting with other provincial officials, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said 64 cases occurred from the outbreak, while the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) earlier said 50 cases have been traced to the call center.

A total of 46 employees who live in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province have tested positive, in addition to four family members of them. The KCDC said all diagnosed employees worked on the 11th floor, without wearing masks.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears that China’s “50 Cent Army” has turned its attention on South Korea to help manipulate online public opinion to be favorable towards President Moon:

On February 27, 2020, an online post titled “Chinagate” emerged, causing a controversy.  A self-described Joseonjok (ethnic Korean who migrated to Northeast China prior to 1945 and their descendants) Chinese claimed that “Joseonjok Chinese and Chinese students in South Korea are using social network services to manipulate public opinion on online communities and portals using online comments and other methods” and that “the Moon Jae-in administration and the ruling party are controlled by China.”  The person also posted, “Most of the people who are mobilized for this systematic manipulation of public opinion are [Chinese] university students studying in South Korea, and all of the top-ranked comments on Naver and comments on women’s cafes go through our hands.” [Note: Naver is a popular portal in South Korea.]

Another post appeared later the same day, claiming “Don’t think it’s Koreans that drive online public opinion” and “as soon as ‘the impeachment of Moon Jae-in’ appeared as the Blue House petition, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which considers President Moon as part of it, became active and led 500,000 to support the ‘I support President Moon Jae-in’ petition in a period of two days.”

These posts were claims, but what followed caused a stir.

East Asia Research Center

I highly recommend reading the whole article at the link by Dr. Tara O. Remember the Moon administration is no stranger to manipulating online public opinion as demonstrated by the Druking Scandal prior to the last presidential election.

Even the coronavirus issue has lead to a tit-for-tat between Korea and Japan:

All Japanese citizens will need visas to enter Korea starting today, announced the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs Friday in response to Tokyo’s slapping of quarantines on visitors from Korea over fears of the new coronavirus.

Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Sei-young said in a press briefing Friday evening that all foreign travelers coming from Japan will also have to undergo special entry procedures.

Cho announced the reciprocal measures after Tokyo announced Thursday mandatory two-week quarantines for visitors from Korea and China at designated facilities starting today. Japan also said it will restrict flights from the two countries to Narita International Airport and Kansai International Airport. The measures are expected to last through this month.

Cho said the Korean government “once again expresses our deepest regret that Japan announced the measures unilaterally without prior consultation.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This is an area that all countries dealing with the spread of the coronavirus should focus on because it is the sick and elderly that are by far the highest demographic being killed by the virus:

The health authorities here are taking extra care with nursing homes, retirement complexes and other facilities housing the elderly as the COVID-19 epidemic has hit senior citizens harder than any other age group, officials said Sunday.

Medical experts said while a major cluster of infections linked to the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus is expected to slow in the coming weeks, the emergence of other mass infections at those facilities is posing a special challenge for the government’s quarantine efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. 

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) confirmed 179 new cases as of 9 p.m., Sunday, bringing the nation’s total number of infections to 7,313. On Saturday, the KCDC detected 367 additional cases.  

So far, 50 people have died from the virus, most of whom were elderly patients with underlying illnesses.

Several cases seen as mass infections have already been reported at nursing facilities and retirement complexes where the frailest of senior citizens reside.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.