Democratic Party and Capital Region Jointly Respond to COVID-19... Establishing Cooperation System Including Bed Sharing

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea and the Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi provincial governments held an emergency countermeasure meeting on the 25th to strengthen cooperation systems such as sharing hospital beds among local governments in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in the metropolitan area.

Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering opening remarks at the emergency COVID-19 countermeasure meeting for the Seoul metropolitan area held at the National Assembly on the 25th. The meeting was attended by Seo Jeong-hyeop, First Deputy Mayor of Seoul, Kim Hee-gyeom, First Deputy Governor of Gyeonggi Province, and Choi Jang-hyeok, Deputy Mayor of Incheon. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

Park Sung-jun, the Democratic Party floor spokesperson, said in a briefing after the closed-door meeting, “As the number of COVID-19 patients is rapidly increasing, hospital beds are needed and there are limits to treatment. There are also considerable local complaints when (related facilities) are installed,” adding, “We will encourage all lawmakers to actively cooperate where screening centers are needed. It is expected that the party will strongly promote this at the party level.”

Park also emphasized, “The three cities and provinces have agreed to form a cooperative system and work organically. The situation is very serious.”

At the meeting, Kim Hee-gyeom, the first deputy governor of Gyeonggi Province, proposed the payment of a second disaster relief fund. Park said, “Governor Kim proposed the payment of a second disaster relief fund, anticipating an economic downturn due to the increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases,” and “He also requested national government support for small business owners subject to administrative orders to suspend gatherings.”

Except for Governor Kim’s proposal, it is known that there was no discussion about the second disaster relief fund during the closed-door meeting. Park stated, “There was no mention of the disaster relief fund, and Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan said that this week is very important as we are on the verge of raising social distancing to level 3, and suggested monitoring the situation this week to assess it.”

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