Publication: Country Case Study: The Republic of Korea
Date
2022-11
ISSN
Published
2022-11
Author(s)
Lee, Taejin
Kim, Hongsoo
Cho, Sung-il
You, Myoungsoon
Chung, Wankyo
Moon, Juhyeon
Abstract
This case study aims to describe the
Republic of Korea’s preparedness and response to coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the resultant impact of the
pandemic on the health of its citizens and the economy.
Korea has been recording COVID 19-related epidemiological
data since January 20, 2020, when the first imported
confirmed case of COVID-19 occurred. Since then, Korea has
undergone four surge waves, which posed different challenges
and cumulative negative impacts. The government implemented
and revised social distancing policy measures, as
appropriate, to maintain a balance between acceptable risk
and disease burden, while promoting vaccination. The fiscal
policy also has kept an expansionary stance to cushion the
economic effects of the pandemic. The report has four
chapters, with subtopics. The Preparedness chapter describes
the policy and governance measures, as well as the health
care system, that facilitated prompt surveillance and early
policy making. The Response chapter describes seven
components, including the response of the government, the
health system, and the public, to contain COVID-19;
vaccination; protecting vulnerable people; innovation
through leapfrogging; and measures to contain COVID-19 from
a human capital perspective. Each component describes how
Korea has dealt with the pandemic. The third chapter
emphasizes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the
progress of universal health coverage (UHC) and
sustainability, and the last chapter discusses lessons
learned for the future and for other countries, including
best practices and challenges. Korea has been relatively
successful in containing the pandemic, reducing its economic
impact, and maintaining public trust during the prolonged
period. Several factors have contributed to this. The
government structure facilitated expedited decision-making
and empowered public-private partnership for a timely
response, backed by a concrete legal basis and institutional
infrastructure. Transparent risk communication and
information disclosure, with specific guidelines, allowed
redistribution of resources and infection control
activities. It is always important to learn from previous
experiences to be well prepared for the next crisis. Even if
regulations are in place to effectively respond to new
infectious diseases, it is necessary to be open to the
revisability of the legal framework, depending on the actual
situation. Extensive testing and contact tracing combined
with flexible social distancing measures are highly
effective in containing the spread of infectious diseases
and reducing the number of new cases, which in turn helps to
alleviate the burden on the health system, until vaccines
and medicines are developed and become available. It is
important to provide appropriate care for patients,
depending on the severity of disease, and to reduce the
burden on the health system to minimize mortality. However,
it should be borne in mind that policy measures used in
Korea such as extensive testing, tracing, and social
distancing could not be successful without dedicated health
professionals as well as the cooperation of citizens. It is
necessary to devise effective communication methods, as the
public’s perception of the government’s briefing and text
messages deteriorates during a prolonged pandemic. For
policy makers, it is necessary to determine an optimal level
of social distancing, not only to save as many lives as
possible, but also to ensure the livelihood of the citizens.
Citation
“Lee, Taejin; Kim, Hongsoo; Cho, Sung-il; You, Myoungsoon; Chung, Wankyo; Moon, Juhyeon. 2022. Country Case Study : The Republic of Korea. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/38372 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”