Sim Jae-cheol "People Growing Tired of Mask Shortage... Showing Moon Administration's Incompetence"

Sim Jae-cheol, floor leader of the United Future Party, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 9th and delivering a speech. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] Shim Jae-cheol, floor leader of the United Future Party, criticized on the 9th, "The inconsistent mask policy has thrown the public into great confusion," and said, "The mask crisis is a representative example of the Moon Jae-in administration's incompetence."

Shim attended the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly that morning and said, "Both the public trying to obtain masks and the manufacturers are getting exhausted."

He criticized, "The mask 5-day rotation system starting today is essentially a rationing system. Nevertheless, the mask crisis shows no signs of easing. Last weekend, the public ran around trying to buy even one more mask before the 5-day rotation system was implemented, and frontline pharmacists had to endure complaints from the public asking why masks were unavailable and were unfairly blamed."

Shim claimed, "The mask crisis stems from the government's inconsistent policies and unprepared incompetence."

He said, "Taiwan, which had its first confirmed case just one day apart from us, started mask control on January 31, whereas we boasted that mask production capacity was sufficient even after deaths occurred. Then, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety reversed its stance from saying masks should not be reused to saying they could be reused, and the Blue House policy chief said masks were unnecessary in clean environments, and finally, on the 6th, mask exports were completely banned."

Shim said, "(Meanwhile) Taiwan directly purchased 90 mask manufacturing machines and provided them to private factories to expand facilities, increasing their initial production capacity from 3.9 million to 12 million masks by April. On the other hand, according to an interview with a mask manufacturer representative, 600 to 700 million masks from January to February likely went to China. This amount could supply 50 million people with one mask per day for over ten days."

He emphasized, "This pathetic behavior was carried out by the Korean government. The mask crisis is yet another example showing the incompetence of the Moon administration."

Shim also reiterated regarding the constitutional amendment discussions raised by some ruling and opposition party members, "Now is not the right timing," and "It is preferable to proceed after the formation of the 21st National Assembly." His party member Kim Moo-sung and Kang Chang-il of the Democratic Party of Korea had previously proposed a constitutional amendment with the consent of 148 lawmakers from both sides."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.