Songpa-gu 'Internet Bangyeokdan' Deletes Information of Over 1,430 Confirmed Cases in 200 Days 'Achievement'

Deletion of Unnecessary COVID-19 Positive Case Information Online... Expanded Efforts to Remove False Information and Fake News Related to COVID-19

Songpa-gu Mayor Park Seong-su is greeting participants using a video chat app at the launch ceremony of the Internet Quarantine Volunteer Group on September 9.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su), which was the first in the nation to implement the ‘Internet Quarantine Team,’ has identified 2,172 pieces of unnecessary information about confirmed COVID-19 cases and deleted or made private 1,433 of them as of December 6, marking 200 days since the team began its activities.

The ‘Songpa-gu Internet Quarantine Team’ was launched by the district on May 21, the first of its kind nationwide, to prevent secondary damage caused by information disclosure such as invasion of privacy of confirmed cases and decreased sales at businesses visited by confirmed cases. The team searches for confirmed case information on the internet and detects and deletes posts that could cause harm.

In particular, the district stated that the Internet Quarantine Team’s activities are linked with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s (MOIS) ‘Hope Job Project,’ which is expected to have a job creation effect. In fact, MOIS allocated 315 million KRW from the ‘Hope Job Project’ budget in the second half of this year to support employment of personnel for monitoring and deleting movement paths.

On May 28, Minister Jin Young of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety introduced the activities of the ‘Songpa-gu Internet Quarantine Team’ as a model case for COVID-19 response at the ‘2nd Central-Local Policy Council’ and announced plans to expand the program nationwide as of June 1.

Considering the unavoidable increase in disclosed movement information of confirmed cases due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation, the district formed the ‘Internet Quarantine Volunteer Group’ on September 9 to expand the quarantine team’s activities.

The volunteer group, composed of 100 university students and office workers, is conducting 24-hour cyber quarantine activities, monitoring false information related to COVID-19 on the internet along with confirmed case movement paths.

Going forward, the district plans to continuously operate the ‘Songpa-gu Internet Quarantine Team’ and the volunteer group to expand their scope of activities to delete not only unnecessary information about confirmed cases but also false information and fake news related to COVID-19.

Mayor Park Seong-su said, “The fact that the Songpa-gu Internet Quarantine Team has found over 2,000 pieces of information in 200 days means that the harm caused by the disclosure of personal information to confirmed cases is significant. We will take the lead in ensuring that the Internet Quarantine Team’s activities are successfully established nationwide so that everyone hurt by COVID-19 can regain hope and quickly return to their daily lives.”

Songpa-gu Internet Quarantine Team

Meanwhile, movement information of confirmed COVID-19 cases (such as infection routes and travel paths) is deleted 14 days after the last contact with a confirmed case, according to the Central Disease Control Headquarters’ guidelines (‘Information Disclosure Guide on Movement Paths of COVID-19 Confirmed Patients’).

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