Kim Jong-in: "People Don't Trust the President's Vaccination... This Is Distrust"

Kim Jong-in, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party. / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Kim Jong-in, the Emergency Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, criticized on the 25th the various suspicions arising over President Moon Jae-in's AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine inoculation, saying, "The president got vaccinated, but the public does not want to believe which vaccine he received," and added, "This is the atmosphere of distrust in this country."

At a rally supporting Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party's Seoul mayoral candidate, held in front of Daehanmun at Deoksugung, Jung-gu, Seoul, Kim said, "A few days ago, North Korea launched missiles, but the government did not inform the public. Why was that? Because there is no trust from the people," criticizing the government.

Kim also pointed out, "This government always talks about the past and calls for clearing out deep-rooted evils, but it does not intend to clear out the deep-rooted evils of elections and instead tries to apply the old evils as they are," adding, "There is nothing to boast about after leading the country for the past four years. So, the current (Democratic Party's) election campaign is only about negative talk about others' past."

He continued, "We need to evaluate all policies of the Moon Jae-in administration over the past four years. What is the biggest failure?" and criticized, "The failure of economic policy is reflected in the failure of real estate policy. The Moon Jae-in government is the one that raises official land prices and comprehensive real estate taxes as if the responsibility for real estate speculation lies with the citizens, increasing burdens on those who are not at fault and making their livelihoods difficult."

President Moon Jae-in received the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine on the morning of the 23rd at the Jongno-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. / Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier, President Moon and his wife completed their first dose of the AZ vaccine at the Jongno-gu Public Health Center on the 23rd. The process of the president and his wife receiving the vaccine was filmed on-site and made public.

After the video was released, some raised suspicions of so-called 'syringe swapping.' One netizen said, "They drew the vaccine with a syringe whose cap was open, then went behind the partition (screen), and a syringe with a closed cap came out," raising suspicions that the AZ vaccine was switched with another vaccine. The post spread across communities and social networking services (SNS), escalating the controversy.

The government immediately dismissed such controversy. On the 24th, Yoon Tae-ho, the head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, explained at a COVID-19 briefing that the reason for taking out a syringe with a cap on during the president's vaccination was "a very common practice in medical settings," adding, "If the syringe needle is exposed while moving after being inserted into the vaccine vial to draw the vaccine, the risk of contamination increases."

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