"Vaccine Purchase, Secret Agreements Between Countries" Ko Min-jung's Words... Opposition: "Lies, Do You Think the People Are Fools?"

People Power Party "Vaccine Contracts Were Purchased by the Government from Private Companies"
"It's Natural for Supply to Be Delayed if They Hesitate and Jump In Late," They Point Out

On the 5th, Go Min-jung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, appeared on JTBC's 'New Year Special Debate' / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Ju-hyung] The People Power Party rebutted the claim made by Go Min-jeong, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 5th that "the purchase of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine is a secret agreement between countries," calling it a "lie."

Hong Jong-gi, deputy spokesperson of the People Power Party, issued a statement on the 6th saying, "Go's remarks on vaccines and real estate during yesterday's TV debate clearly show how much the government and ruling party think the public are fools."

He continued, "The claim that the vaccine purchase contract is a 'secret agreement between countries' is a lie," explaining, "The vaccine purchase contract is a private contract where the government buys vaccines from private companies, and the contracting parties are pharmaceutical companies, not countries like the United States or the United Kingdom."

He added, "The government also concluded the contract as an economic agent, not as an authority of public power, so the market economy logic of supply and demand applies as is," and criticized, "It is natural that vaccine supply is delayed for a government that was slow and jumped in late."

Regarding Go's claim that the vaccine purchase contract is a secret agreement, he rebutted, "The confidentiality obligation on key contract terms is from the perspective of private companies to ensure fairness with other customers and protect trade secrets," and said, "The timing of vaccine supply quantities, which directly relates to the safety of all humanity and is unrelated to corporate trade secrets, cannot be a secret."

He further pointed out, "If we alone cannot disclose what other leaders have already made public, it means there is negligence in the government's legal review of contract clauses."

Earlier, on the 5th, Go appeared on JTBC's 'New Year's Special Debate' and stated, "Vaccining is not like pressing a purchase button in online shopping," and argued, "It is wrong to criticize the delay in securing and administering vaccines by simply comparing with countries like the United States, where the number of COVID-19 deaths is more than 50 times that of our country."

She added, "The government already said in early December that it secured vaccines for 43 million people, and as of the end of December, it has secured vaccines for 56 million people, which is the current fact," and said, "Therefore, vaccine procurement was not delayed, and it was possible to secure vaccines now because the government had been preparing for a long time."

She also emphasized, "Contracting and purchasing vaccines is a secret agreement between countries," and said, "It is not easy to talk about when and how much will be brought in at any given time."

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