'Committee Full-Time Experts' Infectious Disease Advisory Committee Established... Under the Prime Minister's Office (Update)

Composed of Two Committees: 'Policy Advisory' and 'Practical Review'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] A 'National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee' composed mainly of private experts will be newly established under the Prime Minister's Office. The committee plans to hold its first meeting within this month.

On the 10th, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced that it discussed the 'Operation Plan for the National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee.' This appears to be a continuation of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's promise to establish an independent expert advisory body emphasizing 'scientific quarantine' since the presidential transition committee.

The newly established committee will propose government policies in various fields during infectious disease crises requiring cross-ministerial responses. It will be composed of an 'Advisory Committee' that plays a comprehensive advisory role in government policy decision-making and a 'Subcommittee' responsible for evidence analysis and practical review. The Subcommittee will be divided into two parts: the Quarantine Medical Subcommittee and the Socioeconomic Subcommittee.

Unlike the previous administration's Social and Economic Subcommittee of the Daily Recovery Support Committee, which was composed of stakeholders such as small business owners, the current Socioeconomic Subcommittee will include relevant experts.

Park Hyang, head of the Quarantine General Division at the Central Accident Response Headquarters, explained, "Since this is a national-level policy, the Socioeconomic Subcommittee is included to consider socioeconomic aspects, but it will be composed mainly of key experts rather than direct stakeholders. There were criticisms that the opinions of quarantine and medical experts were not sufficiently reflected in the previous administration, so we expect to collect and reflect the opinions of quarantine and medical experts as much as possible, evenly and diversely."

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters also stated that the Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee will be an independent committee mainly composed of private experts and will operate excluding government ministries or stakeholders.

When the committee reports recommendations on major policies related to infectious diseases to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the relevant ministries and the Quarantine Policy Council will review and coordinate them. Afterwards, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters will make the final deliberation and confirmation to implement the policies.

The government announced that it will disclose the committee's policy recommendations and supporting data on its website to ensure transparency and reliability in decision-making. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency will handle practical tasks such as data provision, disclosure of major activities, and support for meeting operations.

Currently, the government is proceeding with procedures such as preparing the basis for the committee and composing members, aiming to hold the first meeting this month.

Baek Kyung-ran, head of the Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters, stated, "We expect the advisory committee to play a pivotal role in establishing quarantine policies with high public acceptance that the people can trust, based on the collective intelligence of experts from various fields.”

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