Emergency Support of '2 Million Masks' to Korea and the US... Follow-up Measures After Phone Call Between the Two Leaders

Comprehensive Consideration of Domestic Situation and Mask Supply

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The government has sent masks to the United States, where confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) are rapidly increasing.

On the 11th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had urgently provided 2 million masks to the U.S. government as part of Korea-U.S. COVID-19 response cooperation.

The government made this decision as a follow-up measure to the joint COVID-19 response discussed during the telephone conversation between the two heads of state on March 24, comprehensively considering the domestic situation, mask supply, and the need to support the allied United States.

The masks are scheduled to be supplied to the U.S. medical field struggling with COVID-19, and the U.S. side transported the masks via a U.S. cargo plane departing early that day.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "Through this support, we hope that Korea and the U.S. can quickly overcome the common challenge of COVID-19 and contribute to sharing Korea's quarantine experience within the international community."

The government, which prohibits mask exports, has decided to exceptionally allow overseas supply for humanitarian aid purposes when foreign governments officially request it. So far, about 70 countries have officially requested mask support from the government.

The government has set the criteria for selecting countries for overseas mask supply as those severely affected by COVID-19 and urgently needing masks due to weak medical and quarantine conditions, as well as countries requiring support for diplomatic and security reasons.

Meanwhile, the government provided $5 million in humanitarian aid to the United States, which suffered from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In 2017, it delivered $2 million for damages caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

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