[21st General Election] Elevating to 'Cheong (Agency)' and Establishing Regional Headquarters... Strengthening the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's COVID-19 Response

Jung Eun-kyung, Director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters (Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency), is attending the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on COVID-19 response, chaired by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, at the Government Complex Sejong in Sejong City on the morning of the 16th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] With the Democratic Party of Korea securing a majority of seats in the 21st general election, attention is also focused on their pledge to strengthen public and regional healthcare. Analysts suggest that the election results reflect public sentiment demanding a stable response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, and the elevation of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), which led quarantine measures, as well as the expansion of personnel and organizational structure, are expected to gain momentum.

According to the Democratic Party's pledges, the healthcare sector mainly emphasizes strengthening the infectious disease response system in light of the recent COVID-19 situation. First, to enhance the expertise and independence of the KCDC, which led the quarantine task force, it will be elevated from being under the Ministry of Health and Welfare to an independent agency at the bureau (Cheong) level. Additionally, to establish cooperative systems with local governments, the plan includes setting up regional headquarters in six zones and adding five quarantine offices. Since the elevation of the KCDC was also promised by opposition parties such as the United Future Party, discussions are expected to arise soon as the current crisis enters a stabilization phase.

The KCDC was previously upgraded to a vice-ministerial level organization and increased its personnel following the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in 2015. However, as revealed during the COVID-19 response, there remains a shortage of field personnel such as epidemiologists, and the absence of regional organizations tailored to each local government's circumstances hindered a more rapid response. Given the specialized nature of the KCDC's work, securing personnel in the short term is challenging, so there has been ongoing emphasis on continuously honing response capabilities even during normal times.

The introduction of a multiple vice-minister system at the Ministry of Health and Welfare has also been considered. Although the Ministry handles the largest budget among government ministries, the elevation of the KCDC director to vice-ministerial rank has made it difficult to introduce multiple vice ministers. If the KCDC is separated as an independent agency, it is highly likely that multiple vice ministers will be appointed to separately oversee healthcare and welfare sectors. This is also part of the Democratic Party's current election pledges.

Other pledges, such as establishing an infectious disease specialized research institute to lead vaccine and treatment development, setting up regional infectious disease specialized hospitals, and expanding regional negative pressure treatment beds, are already underway through supplementary budgets. To address the shortage of medical personnel, the party has pledged to expand quotas by establishing new regional medical schools, though this is expected to require narrowing differences in perception with expert groups such as the Korean Medical Association first.

Meanwhile, in the previous 20th general election, the Democratic Party made specific pledges to increase financial input into health insurance and raise the income replacement rate of the national pension, but there is no blueprint related to these areas in the current election. At that time, the party had pledged to expand state budget input into health insurance finances and emphasized measures such as a 1 million won cap on health insurance payments and strengthening health insurance coverage during the 2017 presidential election. Although pension reform is widely recognized as necessary, it is considered a "hot potato" closely linked to approval ratings, so the party may be reluctant to take the lead. The absence of these issues in the current election pledges is interpreted as stemming from this background.

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