"K-Quarantine Criticism Met with Followers' Forceful Retaliation... Politicization of Disease," Yoon Hee-sook Criticizes Government and Ruling Party

Yoon Hee-sook, a member of the People Power Party, is questioning during the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee's audit of the Gwangju Regional Tax Office, Bank of Korea Gwangju Jeonnam Headquarters, and Mokpo Headquarters held on the morning of October 20 at the Government Gwangju Joint Office in Oryong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suwan] On the 29th, Yoon Hee-sook, a member of the People Power Party, criticized the government and ruling party regarding the prevention of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), saying, "When even slightly critical opinions are presented, ruling party figures and fervent followers forcibly silence them by saying not to badmouth K-quarantine."

In a post on her Facebook on the same day, Rep. Yoon pointed out, "It is not self-praise but through calm humility that we must review the COVID-19 response to be able to proudly say K-quarantine at the end of the tunnel."

She said, "They clearly showed that they politicized disease response, which should be scientific," and "Looking back, the quiet majority was most anxious about the government that praised K-quarantine as the world's best."

She continued, "Since the situation will end only when vaccines are developed and widely distributed, it is certain to be a long-term battle, but they are being dishonest and overextending themselves to defend that phrase (K-quarantine)," adding, "(However) which country is the true winner can only be known after the situation ends."

Comparing with Taiwan, which is considered a successful case in quarantine, she evaluated, "(Our government) has operated with limited quantity and quality of publicly available information and has run advisory groups in a closed manner," and "Although the end of the long tunnel is beginning to be seen with vaccine development, it is still far away."

She added, "Even now, we must widely accept experts' opinions and carefully consider what we need to fix," and "As we send off a difficult year, reflection with calm humility to protect the lives and safety of the people is necessary."

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