"Triple-Digit COVID Cases Due to Gwangbokjeol Rally," Seoul City... Kim Geun-sik Says "Blaming Others, Just Like Moon"

Geun-sik Kim, Chairman of the Seoul Songpa-byeong Party Committee of the People Power Party. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Kim Geunsik, the head of the People Power Party's Songpa-byeong district committee, criticized the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 19th for attributing the triple-digit increase in new COVID-19 cases to the 'Gwangbokjeol rally,' saying, "The Moon administration's hypocrisy of blaming others before addressing the root cause is exactly mirrored by the Seoul city government."

In a post on his Facebook that day, Kim said, "Claiming that the cause of triple-digit cases is the Gwangbokjeol rally after three months without any scientific evidence?has politics taken the place of science?"

Kim pointed out, "They called the participants of the Gwangbokjeol rally murderers, and now they say the rally is the culprit behind the triple-digit cases. The failure to trace small-scale cluster infection routes is the responsibility of the quarantine authorities."

The "murderers" Kim referred to appears to be a reference to former Blue House Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, who caused controversy by saying at the National Assembly's Steering Committee audit on the 4th, "The organizers of the Gwangbokjeol rally are not thieves but murderers."

Kim continued, "To scapegoat the innocent Gwangbokjeol rally to shift responsibility for the triple-digit increase is pitiful. It's just like Trump blaming China during the dire COVID crisis. Keep going back and blame your ancestors too. The Moon administration's hypocrisy of blaming others before addressing the root cause is exactly mirrored by the Seoul city government," he criticized.

Earlier, Park Yumi, Seoul's quarantine controller, analyzed in an online briefing related to COVID-19 that the triple-digit number of new cases recorded for the first time in 78 days was "an effect of the cluster infections related to the August 15 Gwangbokjeol rally."

Park added, "Analysis of the GPS (Global Positioning System) data of confirmed cases showed no connection to Halloween or the downtown rallies last weekend," and said, "There were many cases during the 8.15 rally, so we believe it caused a significant amount of residual infection in the community. We think this led to the recent small-scale multiple cluster infections."

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