President Moon and Prime Minister Kim Share Consensus on 'Critical Juncture' in Metropolitan Area Quarantine... Quarantine Discussions

Weekly Meeting

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum recently expressed concerns about the spread of COVID-19 and its variants, mainly in the metropolitan area, and discussed quarantine issues, the Office for Government Policy Coordination announced on the 5th.

The Office for Government Policy Coordination stated that after President Moon and Prime Minister Kim held their weekly meeting at the Blue House that day, "They shared the recognition that this is a critical turning point for whether daily life can be restored in the second half of this year, and agreed to do their best to enhance the effectiveness of quarantine measures by having the central government and local governments unite under the leadership of Prime Minister Kim."

At the meeting, Prime Minister Kim said, "Due to the high vaccination rate among the elderly, there are relatively fewer severe cases, so the burden on the medical system is relatively low. However, since many confirmed cases are among the highly active younger population in their 20s and 30s, it is expected to take some time for the number of confirmed cases to decrease." He added, "For the time being, I will focus on strengthening the implementation of measures through strong joint on-site inspections by the government and local governments centered on the Prime Minister."

In this regard, Prime Minister Kim plans to preside over a 'Seoul City Special Quarantine Inspection Meeting' on the morning of the 6th at Seoul City Hall, attended by all district mayors in the city. Going forward, he will regularly check the progress of quarantine measures with local governments in the metropolitan area, including Gyeonggi Province, and conduct on-site inspections in areas densely populated by young people, such as the academy district in Jongno-gu and near Hongik University in Mapo-gu.

Meanwhile, as the rainy season began last weekend, inspections were also conducted on disaster prevention measures and plans to ensure public safety.

Prime Minister Kim stated, "Although this rainy season started later than usual, localized heavy rains are expected to cause significant rainfall disparities between regions." He added, "We will thoroughly prepare, focusing on vulnerable facilities to minimize damage." He also reported, "With climate change making abnormal weather events commonplace, there are concerns about damage caused by unexpected heavy rains. We will actively identify blind spots in disaster preparedness such as small streams and tributaries for proactive inspections and thoroughly maintain sewage pipelines."

President Moon and Prime Minister Kim agreed to raise public awareness to prevent casualties and to continue efforts for information sharing and cooperation among related agencies.

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