Kim Yong-tae: "Is Park Won-soon wasting time with 'Shincheonji ranting and call center raids'?"

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon is conducting an online briefing on COVID-19 at the Seoul City Hall briefing room on the morning of the 10th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Shinwon Yoon] Kim Yong-tae, a member of the Future United Party, recently commented on the cluster of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) at a call center in Guro-gu, Seoul, urging Mayor Park Won-soon to "clearly declare that community transmission has begun in Seoul."

On the 11th, Kim posted on his Facebook, stating, "I demand Mayor Park Won-soon to act. Is this the time to waste by only blaming Shincheonji and targeting call centers?"

He pointed out, "Considering the symbolism of Seoul and the chaos that would follow acknowledging community transmission, the time has already passed," adding, "When 15 confirmed cases emerged from the Shincheonji Church in Daegu on the 19th of last month, the failure to declare community transmission and the focus on tracing led to the entire Daegu falling into a pandemic nightmare. We must not repeat that."

He continued, "It is no longer the time to focus solely on delaying infections through quarantine activities; now we must immediately implement contingency plans to prepare for a surge in confirmed cases," emphasizing, "Large-scale intensive treatment facilities for mild cases should be proactively prepared using gymnasiums like in China. Facilities such as Jangchung Gymnasium and other intensive care centers in Seoul must be established. Even if the number of confirmed cases remains low and these facilities end up unused, it does not matter."

Kim also stated, "Seoul will face a far more critical situation than Daegu and Gyeongbuk if confirmed cases surge," warning, "We must prevent a situation where mild patients have no hospital beds and are forced to self-treat without proper measures."

He expressed agreement with Mayor Park’s idea of preemptive measures for multi-dense facilities including call centers. He said, "Considering the working environment of call centers, experts believe they can act as virus incubators similar to the Shincheonji Church," urging, "Bold and preemptive actions should be taken for places with many people in confined spaces, close proximity, droplet exposure, and long working hours like call centers."

He added, "I hope Mayor Park acts immediately according to his convictions," and remarked, "Hasn't Mayor Park always said he would rather be criticized for preemptive and excessive responses than for delayed actions?"

Meanwhile, as of 10 a.m. on the 12th, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases related to the call center in Guro-gu, Seoul, reached 102. This is based on testing 207 employees at the ACE Insurance call center on the 11th floor of the Korea Building, 553 call center employees on the 7th to 9th floors, and about 200 residents of the officetels on the 13th to 19th floors.

In response, Mayor Park decided to designate the Korea Building, where the call center is located, and the surrounding area as a "special infectious disease support zone" at the Seoul city level. This decision was made because the cluster infection case at the Korea Building is considered a critical issue that will determine whether COVID-19 spreads further or not.

Mayor Park said, "There are concerns that the Guro call center could become a second Shincheonji incident," but also noted, "Since no confirmed cases have emerged among officetel residents, the situation is not as severe as feared, so such concerns may not be necessary."

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