"Korea's COVID Hell... Vaccine Shortage Leads to Saline Injections" Japanese Media Report 'Absurd'

Medical staff are administering the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Jungnim-dong Community Service Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] It has been reported that a Japanese far-right media outlet disparaged South Korea's COVID-19 quarantine policies and even spread rumors.

Recently, the Sankei Shimbun's tabloid edition, Sekkan Fuji, reported on South Korea's COVID-19 situation, stating that "the Moon Jae-in administration's quarantine policy, which has praised itself as 'K-quarantine,' is practically in a state of collapse."

The media compared the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in South Korea and Japan, saying, "Although only about 30% of Japan's population has received the third vaccine dose, there is a clear downward trend, whereas South Korea is in a hellish situation."

In particular, emphasizing that Japan's population is 2.5 times that of South Korea, it added, "South Korea's daily confirmed cases of 300,000 correspond to 750,000 in Japan," and "the 440,000 cases in South Korea on the 15th of this month correspond to 1.1 million in Japan."

The media claimed the cause of the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea was that "the Moon Jae-in administration continued 'loose social distancing' to appease self-employed business owners." It even described this as a "devilish idea" aimed at winning the 20th presidential election by securing many votes from self-employed business owners, specifically to elect the ruling party candidate, former Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung.

They also spread rumors about South Korea's vaccination. The media introduced, "South Korea's second dose vaccination rate is 86.4%, and the third dose rate is 61.1% (as of February 27), while Japan's second dose rate is 79.3%, and the third dose rate is only 30.1% (as of March 14)," then claimed the 'water vaccine theory' in South Korea.

The claim was that despite South Korea's high third dose vaccination rate, many infections occur because, in a situation lacking vaccine supply capacity, vaccines diluted with saline solution used for physiological purposes were administered to increase the vaccination rate.

The media sarcastically asked, "What will the people who shouted on Japanese TV that 'we should emulate K-quarantine' say now?"

Meanwhile, according to the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) on the 20th, as of midnight, the number of new domestic COVID-19 confirmed cases was 334,708, which is 46,746 fewer than the previous day (381,454 cases).

According to the tally, confirmed cases appear to be decreasing after peaking at the 620,000 level on the 17th. However, since relaxed social distancing measures expanding private gathering limits from 6 to 8 people will be implemented from the 21st, it remains to be seen whether the epidemic has truly passed its peak and shifted to a downward trend. The government has forecasted, "According to expert predictions, the peak is expected between the 12th and 22nd, and after the 23rd, cases will gradually decrease."

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