Blue House's Emergency Measure: "Disciplinary Action for COVID-19 Confirmation After Small Gatherings"... "Preparing for Worst-Case Scenario"

by Son Seonhee

Published 23 Nov.2020 15:10(KST)

Kang Min-seok, Blue House Spokesperson [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] The Blue House has advised all its employees to cancel or postpone various small gatherings in response to the elevation of social distancing to Level 2 in the Seoul metropolitan area. On the 23rd, it announced that if anyone violates this and attends gatherings resulting in cases of COVID-19 infection and transmission, those individuals will be held accountable.

Kang Min-seok, the Blue House spokesperson, held a briefing at the Chuncheon Press Center in the afternoon and said, "As a compliance measure for all employees, meetings, events, dinners, and conferences have been instructed to be canceled or postponed," adding, "This emergency measure comes as small gatherings, events, and dinners have recently emerged as the root cause of the increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases."

This is a direct application of the special quarantine guidelines implemented by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the same day for public officials and public sector workers to the Blue House.

Spokesperson Kang also stated, "Although mask-wearing has not been an exception at the Blue House, we have taken a step further by requiring masks to be worn during office work, business consultations, and conversations," explaining, "This means masks must be worn from the time of arrival until departure." This is also a mandatory compliance requirement for all employees.

Through recommendations for remote work and taking leave, the Blue House will also reduce office work density. Kang said, "Except for essential personnel (senior administrative officers and above), two-thirds of the staff will work in the office on a three-shift basis, and one-third will work from home," adding, "The work schedule will be autonomously decided by each secretary’s office depending on the number of personnel, but it will be at least two days." He further added, "For departments with high density, some personnel will be relocated to work at annexes such as the Changseong-dong annex." Annual leave usage is also actively encouraged for the same purpose.

Spokesperson Kang explained, "These measures are comprehensively considered not only to reduce office density but also to prevent any interruption in national administration due to confirmed cases," and described this as "an emergency response prepared with the worst-case scenario of confirmed cases occurring within the Blue House in mind."