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South Korean President Moon Jae-in takes a telephone call with Canadian Prime Minister at the Blue House on Mar. 26. (provided by the Blue House)

In a telephone conversation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Mar. 26, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans to model Canada’s response to the novel coronavirus based on South Korea’s.

Trudeau also requested that Moon arrange a dialogue between South Korean and Canadian public health officials to provide access to South Korean data. He was further quoted as saying South Korea had made the “right decision” in not imposing entry restrictions on travelers arriving from China and other countries.

The telephone conversation between the South Korean and Canadian leaders took place at 10 am on Mar. 26 and lasted for 32 minutes. It was made at Trudeau’s suggestion. Kang Min-seok, a spokesperson for the Blue House, quoted Trudeau as saying that “South Korea’s response based on science and its experience with the MERS [Middle East Respiratory Syndrome] outbreak has produced results in terms of public safety without placing too much of a burden on the healthcare system.”

“Canada also wants to pursue a similar model to South Korea’s,” he was also quoted as saying.

In particular, Trudeau stressed the importance of the widespread and fast testing and tracing of patient interactions in South Korea, adding that Canada “wants to learn from South Korea.”

“If we can acquire South Korean data, it will provide a lot of lessons. I hope dialogue can be arranged between Canadian and South Korean public health officials,” he was quoted as saying. He also reportedly stated that Canada had requested disease prevention equipment from South Korean companies.

In response, Moon said that South Korea was also facing a shortage of disease prevention items, but that it had managed to meet domestic demand for diagnostic kits through early development and was responding to requests from other countries for exportation and humanitarian assistance.

“Countries that can afford to spare equipment should be actively helping those that can’t,” Moon was quoted as saying.

Trudeau also said that South Korea had acted correctly in not imposing entry restrictions on international travelers from China and elsewhere.

“Recently, we have had no choice but to close our border with the US, but I fundamentally think South Korea’s decision was the right choice,” he was quoted as saying.

Providing a detailed explanation of the South Korean coronavirus response, Moon said, “We intend to actively share the experiences and clinical data we’ve acquired in the disease control and treatment process with the international community.”

Moon wished a speedy recovery and return to Trudeau, who is currently working from home after his wife Sophie was diagnosed with the coronavirus. Trudeau expressed his thanks, adding that his wife had “almost fully recovered.”

With the South Korean disease control system recently drawing praise from the international community, Moon has spoken with nine heads of state this month alone, including US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. The overseas leaders have requested the exportation of diagnostic kits and the sharing of South Korea’s disease control experiences and data. According to a South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcement, 51 countries had either inquired about or requested coronavirus diagnostic kit imports from South Korea as of Mar. 25.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]