As of 3 p.m. Monday, the number of MERS patients had increased to 87, including six dead, and counting. Korea is now the No. 2 nation in this disgraceful global ranking. What in the past 12 years has turned one of the world’s top epidemic preventers into its worst controller?
Koreans remain largely the same, as national traits are not supposed to change in little more than a decade. But their government ― and its chief executive ― has changed.
Between May 20 when the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome broke out here, and Sunday, President Park Geun-hye had done only three things related to it ― making a stereotyped remark at a weekly Cabinet meeting after the next week, chairing an interagency conference after two weeks, and visiting an affected hospital recently.
It was not until almost three weeks had passed ― with more than 2,000 people under quarantine and a roughly similar number of schools closed temporarily ― that the nation’s first female leader appeared to roll up her sleeves by visiting the anti-epidemic ad-hoc headquarter on Monday. It is always better late than never, but the President’s actions was at least two weeks too late.
Cheong Wa Dae officials say they will cancel most other presidential appointments for the time being to help her focus on anti-MERS operations. They also should have done so when the number of patients was below 10.
A silver lining of the dark epidemic cloud over the weekend was a bipartisan accord to cope with the epidemic as well as the launch of a cooperative body between central and local administrations. It was also welcome, if way too belated, that the government made public the names of 26 hospitals where confirmed patients stayed or visited.
However, the rare show of bipartisanship and sharing of information came only after some mayors and governors, frustrated with the central government’s slow and lukewarm response, pushed ahead with self-help measures. Politically motivated or not, these were necessary steps that the public wanted taken. President Park was wrong to criticize these politicians for hindering orderly operations. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, for example, declared "war against MERS” to protect citizens. Most Koreans would have wanted to hear this from their President.
The President called for unity without showing matching leadership, and her administration wanted to monopolize information while it was utterly incapable of controlling the situation.
When Koreans saw the ferry Sewol sink more than a year ago taking 304 lives with it, President Park ascribed it to "accumulated evils” dating back to previous governments. One cannot help but wonder what excuse she might make about the ongoing fiasco, after the Korean government in 2003 so successfully kept SARS from this nation.
All this explains why Park needs to stay around the anti-MERS headquarters at least until the end of this week when the worst is expected ― or hoped ― to be over. If the epidemic still rages on, the President ought to consider delaying her scheduled visit to the United States. Nothing could be more important than people’s safety and lives. And the U.S. administration will understand because President Barack Obama has also put everything on hold in the past when there is a national emergency.