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South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks on the phone with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven at the Blue House on Mar. 20. (provided by the Blue House)

European leaders have been moving one after the other to ask President Moon Jae-in to share South Korea’s experience with novel coronavirus prevention. The requests appear to be intended to apply Korea’s response strategy -- which is being seen as a model for coronavirus containment -- in their own countries amid the rapidly spreading pandemic.

On Mar. 20, Moon spoke by telephone with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. During the conversation, which took place at his request, Lofven expressed that he was “very impressed by the South Korean government’s strong response to the coronavirus, including its large amount of testing,” Blue House Spokesperson Kang Min-seok reported.

“South Korea appears already to have safely controlled the situation and entered a stage of stabilization. We are watching this closely as a successful example of responding to the coronavirus,” Lofven was also quoted as saying by Kang.

In his response, Moon was quoted as saying that the coronavirus pandemic is “a global challenge rather than a matter confined to any one country, and cooperation and solidarity in the international community are more important than ever.”

“Our government plans to actively share the experience and clinic data we’ve acquired during our coronavirus disease control and treatment process with the international community,” he continued. In response, Lofven expressed thanks for the plans to share South Korea’s experience and clinical data, predicting it would be “very useful for the Swedish government’s coronavirus response.”

Previously, French President Emmanuel Macron telephoned Moon on Mar. 13 to ask him to share South Korea’s disease control experience. At the time, Macron said that France “wishes to learn about the excellence of approaches of the measures South Korea has been successfully adopting and to share experiences,” calling on Moon to “share South Korea’s experience with disease control.” On Mar. 5, United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan requested exportation of coronavirus diagnostic kits during a telephone conversation with Moon. South Korea would later provide emergency exports of 51,000 kits.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Hong Nam-ki reported on Mar. 20 that South Korea had “received requests from the US and elsewhere to export coronavirus diagnostic kits,” adding that the “Minister of Health and Welfare is currently considering” the matter.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

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