[Comprehensive] Kim Eo-jun "Why Is Oh Se-hoon Not Held Responsible for the 4th Wave of COVID-19?"... Seoul City Calls It "Fake News"

"Mayor Oh, Disbands Seoul City Dedicated Epidemiological Investigation TF"
"Extend Business Hours for Gyms, Indoor Golf Practice Ranges, etc."

Broadcaster Kim Eo-jun, host of TBS's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' / Photo by TBS

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Ju-hyung] Kim Eo-jun, a broadcaster and host of the TBS current affairs program 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' (News Factory), rebutted claims from some quarters that President Moon Jae-in is responsible for the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, asking, "Why is there no criticism of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon?"

Earlier, on the 12th, Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, argued that President Moon’s reckless remarks had triggered the COVID-19 outbreak. Ahn stated, "Before each of the four major waves, there was always a prophecy by President Moon about the end of COVID-19 or boasting about Korea’s K-quarantine," adding, "If we only trust the president’s words, K-quarantine could turn into a kill quarantine that harms both people and livelihoods, not Korea’s quarantine."

In response to Ahn’s remarks, Kim said on the 13th on TBS’s 'News Factory,' "The president did not directly cause the fourth wave, so the comprehensive responsibility for the disaster lies with the president," explaining his position.

He added, "In that sense, it means that the head of an elected government official is held accountable for disasters experienced by a government."

He then pointedly asked, "By the same logic, shouldn’t Seoul’s local government head, Mayor Oh Se-hoon, also be held responsible?"

Kim criticized, "(Mayor Oh) from the beginning of his term claimed that the government’s quarantine measures were wrong and issued messages to ease restrictions. On June 24, he disbanded Seoul’s dedicated epidemiological investigation task force (TF)."

Regarding Mayor Oh’s quarantine policies, Kim said, "He extended business hours for facilities such as gyms and indoor golf practice ranges," and added, "He wasted 1.3 billion won of taxpayers’ money to find just four confirmed cases using self-diagnostic kits that experts deemed unnecessary. Why remain silent about Mayor Oh’s quarantine measures that cost over 300 million won per confirmed case?"

He continued, "As a result, during the early stage of the fourth wave, the rate of infection route investigations dropped to the 40% range, making Seoul the epicenter of the fourth wave. Why is there no criticism of Mayor Oh’s quarantine policies?"

Kim emphasized, "If we are to find the culprit, everyone (the people) would be accomplices."

However, Seoul City rebutted Kim’s claims, stating, "We find it difficult to agree."

Seoul City explained, "The claim that the epidemiological investigation TF was disbanded is fake news. Also, it is hard to say that the number of epidemiological investigators has actually decreased," adding, "We reorganized investigators who were inactive, retired, or unable to come even when situations arose, so there is no significant difference in the actual number of investigators."

Regarding the claim that extending business hours at multi-use facilities caused a quarantine crisis, the city said, "This was done in consultation with the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters," emphasizing, "Moreover, quarantine rules were strengthened by conducting preemptive testing and tightening capacity limits."

They added, "As for the self-diagnostic kits, they were used as an additional test while maintaining existing quarantine rules," and said, "(The diagnostic testing) was rather strengthened, not a failure. We need to consider various methods, and while reinforcing existing quarantine rules, we tried new approaches."

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