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News Analysis: Politicized MERS in S. Korea pits central gov't against city authorities

Xinhua, June 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

The conflicts between central and city governments entered a phase of politicization of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) spread in South Korea as both have stepped up criticism against each other for "insufficient" and "hasty" response to the deadly viral disease.

Politicians of the ruling and the main opposition parties joined the time-wasting quarrel, helping further politicize the MERS issue amid a rapid increase in MERS contagions and rising public fears.

Nine more infections were reported in South Korea Saturday, raising the total number to 50 since the first patient was identified on May 20, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The country has become the most MERS-contagious outside the Middle East.

The new cases included five infectees who stayed at the emergency room of Samsung Medical Center in Seoul on May 27 or May 28 together with the 14th infectee.

The 14th infectee was estimated to have transported the virus from the Pyeongtaek St. Mary's Hospital, where the first patient infected more than 30 people, in the city of the same name some 60 km south of Seoul, to Samsung Medical Center in Seoul.

The 14th infectee traveled to Seoul by bus on May 27 to be hospitalized at the Samsung Medical Center, in which the 35-year- old man infected a total of seven including a doctor of the hospital suspected of having contact with thousands of people under MERS contagion and spreading the deadly virus to others.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon held an emergency press briefing on Thursday night to make public the doctor's case, instructing the city government officials to reach 1,565 people who participated in the same event with the doctor and ask the participants one by one to be put under self-quarantine at home.

It was in a stark contrast to the central government's failure to reach all people visiting the hospital in Pyeongtaek and to prevent tertiary infections originating from those infected by the patient zero from happening. The central government launched the survey of all the people a day after the mayor's announcement.

The next day, the mayor was placed under harsh criticism from the central government and the presidential office. An unidentified presidential official told an unscheduled press briefing that Park raised public anxieties and chaos, and Health Minister Moon Hyung-pyo expressed strong regrets over Park's " unilateral" announcement.

The mayor's announcement triggered President Park Geun-hye's first visit to the National Medical Center in Seoul, one of the government-designated hospitals for MERS treatment on Friday afternoon, 16 days after the first case was reported on May 20.

President Park said that if a municipal government or a related institution tries to solve this problem arbitrarily, it would cause chaos and would not help respond to the MERS spread effectively, denouncing Mayor Park indirectly.

Politicians joined the quarrel. Ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers slammed Mayor Park for his "hasty" move, while the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy criticized President Park for her time-wasting "bickering."

Mayor Park said during a meeting to counter the MERS spread Saturday that an "overreaction" was better than a belated response for people's safety, stressing that all suspects should be managed rather than waiting for a rise in the confirmation of the viral disease.

Moon Jae-in, chief of the main opposition party, said that the government should stop criticizing Mayor Park and call for active cooperation from the city government to prevent the greater chaos of the MERS.

Ruling Saenuri Party leader Kim Moo-sung and senior party officials visited the government of Gyeonggi Province, in which the Pyeongtaek St. Mary's Hospital is located and the majority of MERS infections occurred, on Saturday.

Kim said that now is the time for the central and municipal governments to form a joint front against the MERS and share information between them to counter the disease spread. Endi