Government Refutes French Lawyer's Op-Ed Claiming "Korea is a Surveillance and Informant State"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] When a leading French economic newspaper published an article describing South Korea's quarantine network through tracking the movement of confirmed COVID-19 cases as "the second most surveilled and reported country in the world," the South Korean government officially protested.

The French economic newspaper Les Echos published an online reader's contribution titled "Coronavirus and Movement Tracking: Let's Not Sacrifice Individual Freedom" on the 6th (local time).

The contributor, lawyer Virginie Pradel, first criticized the French government's complacent awareness and sudden change in attitude. She introduced, "South Korea quickly recommended mask-wearing and set up nationwide 'drive-through' testing centers to conduct large-scale testing," while criticizing the French government for failing to secure masks even for medical staff, let alone citizens.

However, in this article, Pradel opposed France's consideration of a tracking method similar to South Korea's infection route tracing and suddenly turned the criticism toward South Korea.

Pradel stated, "It is unfortunate that Taiwan and South Korea have implemented tracking devices, and the French government must ensure that its citizens do not experience such situations. These two countries are not role models for individual freedom but rather among the worst."

In particular, she criticized, "South Korea is the world's second country in surveillance and reporting, where thousands of Koreans train in such techniques at academies and earn money by reporting others for everything from cigarette butts to adultery. Fortunately, France is different from these countries. They have long disregarded individual freedom. Of course, if such freedom had existed."

After this article was made public, the South Korean government responded. The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in France protested to Les Echos and then sent an official rebuttal article under the name of the Director of the Korean Cultural Center in France.

Jeon Hae-woong, Director of the Korean Cultural Center in France, said, "We submitted a rebuttal article containing the fact that South Korea is transparently formulating and implementing related policies through democratic procedures with national consensus to respond to COVID-19."

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