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The US Army garrison Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. (Hankyoreh archives)

After nine non-Korean defense contractors working for US Forces Korea (USFK) tested positive for COVID-19 in the city of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, the city drew up a plan to test all non-Korean contractors at the USFK’s Camp Humphreys base. But that plan ran aground when USFK refused to submit a list of contractors’ names on the grounds of protecting their privacy.

Pyeongtaek officials disclosed on Apr. 6 that they’d asked USFK for a list of army contractors working at Camp Humphreys. But USFK has declined to hand over the list, explaining that it needs to consult with its lawyers about how to handle the contractors’ private information.

The non-Korean contractors, all of whom are housed off base, represent a separate category from USFK’s civilian employees and South Korean employees. Mostly American citizens, they’re contracted by USFK to handle engineering and IT jobs on base.

Since these contractors aren’t covered by either USFK’s disease controls or the separate efforts of the Pyeongtaek municipal authorities, the authorities need to ascertain their current status if they’re to prevent the disease from spreading at the community level.

“Our understanding is that USFK is doing a good job with monitoring American servicemembers and civilian employees, but when any of their non-Korean contractors test positive for the disease, they’re apparently just told to stay off base. Since the city has no information about who they are or how many there are, these people are left outside of both our quarantine systems,” said a concerned Pyeongtaek official.

USFK’s non-Korean contractors are employed by various companies, leading the public health authorities to believe there’s a high likelihood of infected individuals coming into contact with their coworkers. Pyeongtaek’s plan, pending receipt of the list of contractors from USFK, was to either test them all for COVID-19 or provide those exhibiting suspicious symptoms with information about how to be tested.

After Pyeongtaek’s efforts bogged down, Gyeonggi Province’s public health authorities sent epidemiological researchers to the city on Apr. 5 to carry out in-depth interviews with five of the nine non-Korean contractors who’ve tested positive for the disease.

In a related story, Pyeongtaek and Brian D. Allgood Army Community Hospital, located in Camp Humphreys, will shortly be signing a statement of intent to cooperate in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.

By Hong Yong-duk, South Gyeonggi correspondent

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