hankyoreh

South Korean President Moon Jae-in presides over a meeting of senior secretaries and aides at the Blue House on Aug. 24. (Yonhap News)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent a warning message on Aug. 24 to physician groups that launched a collective strike to protest plans to create new public health colleges and raise the admissions cap for medical schools.

“We will have no choice but to respond sternly to the collective use of force in violation of the law, such as strikes and walkouts,” Moon said, describing the current situation as a “desperate moment where the number of people infected [with COVID-19] could skyrocket anywhere at any time if we let down our guard even a little.”

Presiding over a meeting of senior secretaries and aides at the Blue House that day, Moon said, “We would like the medical community to refrain from collective action. Collective action that holds the public’s life hostage will not gain support at a time when we need to be harnessing our national capacities to stop the virus from spreading.”

“One can oppose or criticize government policy, but it cannot cross the line of what is lawful,” he stressed in his first public message directed at the Korea Intern Resident Association (KIRA).

“This emergency situation is far more severe than the Shincheonji [religious sect outbreak] early on in the coronavirus situation. If we cannot stop this at its current stage, we will have no choice but to upgrade to Level 3 social distancing,” he said, calling on the South Korean public to actively participate in disease control efforts. In a message urging alertness, he explained, “A Level 3 upgrade is by no means an easy decision to make. Daily life would come to a stop, jobs would collapse, and we would have to suffer through a truly enormous economic setback. We could even see a collapse of the healthcare system.”

Moon further hinted at plans for a stern response toward obstruction of disease prevention efforts and the spreading of fake news, which he referred to as “antisocial criminal acts.”

“No religious freedom, no freedom of assembly, no freedom of expression can be proclaimed if it means causing such enormous harm to the South Korean public,” he declared, adding that he would “clearly establish the strict fairness of public authorities.”

For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic erupted, clear plastic partitions were installed on the table for the Blue House meeting that day. Attendees were seated one seat apart from each other in the interest of social distancing.

The same day, Moon declared additional special disaster regions in the wake of recent torrential rains. They included 36 towns, townships, and neighborhoods as well as 20 cities, counties, and districts nationwide, among them the Gwangsan and Buk (North) Districts of Gwangju and the city of Icheon in Gyeonggi Province.

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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