Military Deployed for COVID-19 Epidemiological Investigation This Week

On the 8th, when the military leave that had been restricted to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) was resumed normally, soldiers heading on leave were making their way to the train at Seoul Station. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Military personnel will be deployed to support epidemiological investigations of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

A Ministry of National Defense official stated on the 8th, "We are internally reviewing a plan to deploy about 600 personnel, similar in scale to the police, mainly in the metropolitan area," adding, "We are preparing to deploy them as early as this week."

The support personnel will all be non-commissioned officers or higher-ranking officers. They are expected to be mainly assigned to administrative tasks related to epidemiological investigations, such as entering investigation results, supporting GPS and credit card tracking investigations, and transporting specimens.

However, since the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has not yet notified the military of the support personnel scale, the dispatch size remains flexible. The official said, "We plan to actively cooperate with the Disease Control Agency to deploy as many available personnel as possible."

President Moon Jae-in ordered the strengthening of on-site epidemiological investigation capabilities in the metropolitan area the day before, saying, "Prepare to deploy available personnel such as public officials, military, and police to on-site epidemiological investigations starting this week," according to the Blue House.

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