"President Moon Urges Sharing of South Korea's COVID-19 Achievements"

WHO Urges Support for Joint Management Pool of COVID-19 Knowledge and Patents

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] On the 29th, civic, social, and labor organizations such as the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and the Movement for Free Healthcare urged President Moon Jae-in to have Korea participate in a global pool jointly managing all knowledge and technology for the eradication of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). President Moon has been invited as a keynote speaker at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May.

On the same day, these civic, social, and labor organizations sent an open letter to President Moon urging Korea to take a leading role in the global movement to overcome COVID-19 through knowledge sharing and cooperation. They requested, "In your speech, please promise to entrust all research and development outcomes necessary for diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and quarantine against COVID-19?including materials, equipment, medicines, and vaccines?to the joint management of the WHO." They added, "Korea should not only present a global standard for COVID-19 quarantine but also set an example by sharing scientific and technological achievements with the entire world."

The joint management pool was proposed by the Costa Rican government and accepted by the Director-General of the World Health Organization. The pool covers patents that can be used for COVID-19 diagnosis, prevention, control, and treatment, as well as clinical trial data, copyrights, blueprints used in diagnostic devices or equipment, medicines, and vaccine production. For example, if an effective treatment drug is developed, anyone should be able to use it freely and equally. This approach is based on the judgment that public goods management is more efficient for overcoming COVID-19 than protecting rights through patents and exclusivity.

The European Union also announced on the 15th that it proposes voluntarily entrusting all intellectual property rights related to medical interventions for COVID-19 to joint management. The Dutch government has expressed support, and 130 British parliamentarians recently urged the UK government to support knowledge sharing related to COVID-19 through the WHO.

The civic, social, and labor organizations also demanded that President Moon encourage participation from other countries. They stated, "President Moon should send a message to the international community that the crisis must be overcome through mutual cooperation and sharing." They added, "In line with this trend, domestic systems must also be corrected so that the outcomes of public research and development are not monopolized by patents but are enjoyed evenly by all members of our society."

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