People Power Party Criticizes 'Moon's COVID Response'... Kim Jong-in Says "Angry at Incompetent Response"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] On the 13th, the People Power Party sharply criticized the Moon Jae-in administration's response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, said at an emergency meeting of the COVID-19 Countermeasures Special Committee, "President Moon and the government said at the beginning of this year that they would secure sufficient hospital beds, but what have they been doing for the past 10 months?" He added, "I am so angry at the government's incompetent response, which has not improved at all compared to the first major outbreak."

Kim particularly pointed out the government's vaccine procurement issues, criticizing, "Vaccinations have already started in the UK, and advanced countries have secured enough vaccines to cover tens of millions of people and are preparing for vaccinations." He continued, "Our country says vaccines will be introduced in the first quarter of next year and vaccinations will be possible in the second quarter, but the specific pharmaceutical company we contracted with has yet to present reliable and stable clinical results."

He added, "The repeated stance of government officials that vaccinations are not urgent considering vaccine safety is pouring fuel on the public's anger," and warned, "Whether the repeated fraudulent statements to the public by the Moon administration, which boasted about the success of K-quarantine, are due to the president's incompetence or false reports from aides, the responsibility for all these situations lies with President Moon."

Joo Ho-young, the floor leader, also said at the meeting, "COVID-19 is spreading explosively, but the only thing the government can do at this point is to raise social distancing to level 3," and criticized, "While the whole world is desperately securing vaccines, the vaccines this government claims to have secured are expected to receive FDA approval only in the latter half of next year."

Joo pointed out, "The government says it has secured vaccines for 44 million people, but only about 10 million doses are firmly contracted, and even those products have not received approval from the U.S. FDA, raising public concerns about safety," adding, "While advanced countries are engaged in a vaccine procurement war, we spent nearly 12 billion won on promotional expenses, focusing only on self-praise of K-quarantine. This complacent response could lead to a major disaster."

He criticized, "The People Power Party repeatedly urged the government to distribute rapid COVID-19 test kits to all citizens and to expedite vaccine procurement, but the government and ruling party ignored these calls, resulting in an exponential increase in cases with unknown infection routes," and said, "This happened while the government and ruling party neglected urgent livelihood issues and vaccine procurement, focusing only on ousting the Prosecutor General and launching the Corruption Investigation Office."

Joo added, "While countries around the world are swiftly vaccinating and preparing for post-COVID economic recovery, our country is only adhering to high-level quarantine measures and faces a situation where economic activities may have to stop for over a year," criticizing, "The government and ruling party, who put protecting power above the lives and safety of the people, will be sternly judged by the public."

Yoo Seung-min, a former People Power Party lawmaker and opposition presidential candidate, also raised his voice on Facebook that day, saying, "Our government, which boasted that K-quarantine was the global standard, failed to secure vaccines due to incompetence and neglect of duty," and urged, "President Moon should sincerely apologize for the failure to secure vaccines and hold those responsible in the Blue House and government accountable."

Kim Ki-hyun, a four-term lawmaker, also criticized on Facebook, "Where are the vaccines after all the talk about K-quarantine?" He said, "All citizens gave up their freedoms and silently endured economic losses to actively cooperate with quarantine measures, but this administration acted irresponsibly, saying there was no need to rush vaccine procurement, and only hurriedly started securing vaccines late under public pressure."

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