Ha Tae-kyung Criticizes "Chu Mi-ae for Undermining K-Quarantine... 50% of Inmates at Dongbu Detention Center Infected"

"President Moon Must Hold Minister Chu Strictly Accountable" Urged

Ha Tae-kyung, People Power Party lawmaker / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, stated that the responsibility for the COVID-19 cluster infection incident at the Seoul Eastern Detention Center lies with Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, urging that "strict accountability must be demanded."

On the 6th, Ha wrote on his Facebook, "The COVID-19 cluster infection at the Eastern Detention Center stemmed from the failure of the national agency's quarantine measures," adding, "Masks were not distributed in time, 180 people including both COVID-19 contacts and non-contacts were gathered in one auditorium for four hours, and basic quarantine protocols were completely ignored, such as sharing the exercise yard and bathhouse."

He continued, "As a result, including the 66 confirmed cases announced today, about 1,150 inmates, nearly 50% of the total prison population, were infected with COVID-19, an unprecedented incident," claiming, "The Eastern Detention Center has become a modern-day COVID-19 Maruta experiment site."

He further pointed out, "Minister Choo Mi-ae and the Moon Jae-in administration themselves have destroyed the K-quarantine system that medical staff and the public have worked hard to establish."

Ha said, "Still, our people endured with the belief that at least quarantine was done well, but this belief was shattered by the Eastern Detention Center incident," raising his voice, "President Moon Jae-in must directly hold Minister Choo strictly accountable."

On the afternoon of the 29th of last month, an inmate at Dongbu Detention Center in Songpa-gu, Seoul, showed the press a note he had written himself expressing complaints about overcrowding of confirmed cases and the ban on sending letters. / Photo by Yonhap News

On the same day, the Ministry of Justice announced that 66 additional inmates tested positive in the 6th full inspection of the Eastern Detention Center.

The first confirmed case at the detention center was identified on November 27 last year. Since then, correctional authorities conducted the first full inspection on the 18th of last month, and a total of 1,118 inmates have tested positive through six rounds of full inspections so far.

The Ministry of Justice admitted that due to a lack of space at the early stage of the cluster outbreak, close contacts had to be housed together.

Kim Jae-sul, head of the Medical Division at the Ministry of Justice, said at a COVID-19 regular briefing held at the Government Sejong Complex on the morning of the 6th, "On December 19, when the cluster infection first occurred at the Eastern Detention Center, the facility was overcrowded at about 116.7% capacity. Although the basic principle is to strictly separate confirmed cases, contacts, and non-contacts, the unexpected cluster infection, the overcrowded state at the time, and mental health issues of inmates already in single cells prevented proper control."

He added, "I want to emphasize that cohabitation of close contacts was unavoidable."

However, he stressed, "To overcome this situation, we have conducted five rounds of transfer adjustments so far, achieving a significant reduction in the occupancy rate."

According to the Ministry of Justice, the inmate population decreased from 2,292 on the 18th of last month to 1,320 as of 9 p.m. on the 5th, lowering the occupancy rate to 63.7%.

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