Moon says South Korea will overcome COVID-19. March. 02, 2020 07:47. tree624@donga.com.

“By overcoming the pressing the COVID-19 outbreak at home and achieving peace and common prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, we will build a Republic of Korea that cannot be shaken,” said Moon Jae-in, suggesting North Korea to embark on cooperation in the health industry with the South.



“The COVID-19 outbreak can threaten our lives temporarily, but it cannot break our unity and hope,” Moon stressed at a national ceremony to mark the 101st anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement at Paiwha Girls' High School in Seoul. “We will be able to overcome the COVID-19 outbreak and revive our shrunken economy.” He asked citizens for trust toward the government’s response to COVID-19 by repeatedly using the words “together” 12 times, “unity” and “harmony” three times each while the government is being criticized for its delayed response to the entry ban on Chinese people, the lack of hospital beds and masks. “The government is doing everything it can to contain the spread of the virus,” he said. “Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province are never alone.”



“I am hoping for public health partnerships with North Korea,” he said. “Our lives will become safer when the two Koreas respond to the spread of infectious diseases in animals and humans, disasters in border areas and the climate change on the Korean Peninsula.”



President Moon has once again suggested inter-Korean cooperation and showed his will to provide quarantine resources to the North. But some point out that his suggestion is not appropriate as the South is having seriously difficult times due to the lack of disinfection resources.



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