Chairman Jeong Gi-seok Appointed as 'COVID-19 Special Response Team Leader' within Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Update)

"Purpose of Strengthening Expert-Centered Consultation and Communication"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The government has established a 'COVID-19 Special Response Team Leader' within the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and appointed Jeong Ki-seok, chairman of the National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee.

On the 3rd, Park Hyang, head of the Central Accident Response Headquarters' quarantine general team, said at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures briefing, "To strengthen expert-centered consultation and communication, from today, the chairman of the National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee will be appointed as the COVID-19 Special Response Team Leader and attend the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures meetings," adding, "Accordingly, it is expected that more specialized quarantine policies will be established."

The government explained that this reorganization is part of a governance system reform to strengthen the role of private experts within the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, which serves as the control tower for quarantine response.

Chairman Jeong will hold briefings three times a week on the advisory committee's decision-making basis and recent COVID-19 issues. On Mondays, he will announce the advisory committee's results independently, and on Wednesdays and Fridays, he will participate in joint briefings with the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.

On the day, Chairman Jeong stated, "From now on, as the team leader, my role will not be limited to consultation," and expressed his ambition, saying, "Regarding policy matters, I will make decisions and explain them simply to patients and their guardians, just as I have made difficult diseases easier to understand."

He continued, "Depending on the situation, we (the advisory committee) will actively utilize expert knowledge to present opposing opinions," and said, "If necessary, we will activate monitoring functions to check whether policies are properly implemented and not just proposed, and provide feedback on whether they are executed in the field."

The National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee, chaired by Jeong, is composed entirely of private experts and was established last June to propose policies based on scientific evidence.

It is broadly divided into the 'Advisory Committee' and two 'Subcommittees.' The subcommittees consist of a total of 21 experts: 13 in the Quarantine Medical Subcommittee and 8 in the Socioeconomic Subcommittee.

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