Eonju Lee: "A Country Where You Can't Even Freely Buy a Mask... The Government Should Purchase in Bulk and Distribute"

On the morning of the 9th, the first day of the mask 5-day rotation system, citizens waiting in line to buy masks stood in front of a pharmacy in Nam-gu, Ulsan City. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Seulgi Kim] Lee Eon-ju, a member of the Future United Party, said, "With 1 trillion won, masks could be distributed free of charge to 50 million citizens for four months. (The government and ruling party) are only distributing cash for the election."

On the 10th, Lee posted on her Facebook, "After the five-day rotation system, many people went to pharmacies to buy masks on their designated days but came up empty-handed. This is a country where you can't even buy a single mask at will," she said.

She added, "If they are going to ration like that, the government should just place a bulk order and distribute masks to each household according to resident registration numbers. Why bother troubling innocent pharmacies and making citizens line up to buy? The government should order in bulk and distribute them one by one," and claimed, "They are wasting money on various allowances but not solving the mask supply issue... They make all sorts of excuses, but in reality, they lack the capability and will."

Lee continued, "I checked the cost price of masks, and it is about 500 won. If you use a 500-won mask for three days, you use 10 masks in a month, costing a total of 5,000 won. If 50 million citizens spend 5,000 won each, it would cost 250 billion won," and said, "Assuming a difficult four months due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), even if masks are distributed to the entire population, 1 trillion won would suffice."

She then pointed out, "What kind of country is South Korea? Is it a poor country without even 1 trillion won? The government makes citizens stand in long lines in cold weather, stingy with 1 trillion won, and barely supplies two masks while boasting about it. What on earth are they doing?"

Lee added, "They say they will make an additional budget of 11.7 trillion won for COVID-19 response. Looking at this budget, they are only distributing cash such as senior citizen jobs, Onnuri gift certificates, and various incentives. They claim to stimulate consumption with the supplementary budget but are just boasting with election cash handouts."

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