Feeling in house arrest situation, Korean ambassador is for opening up India, easing lockdown,
Shin Bong-kil said we need to wisely live with this kind of disease (COVID-19), ease restrictions and also create good healthcare infrastructure to make a resilient society.
NEW DELHI: “I am in house arrest situation for two months. As soon as the travel restrictions are eased, and shutdown is relaxed, I am going to massively travel throughout India. I will go to Rishikesh and stay there for one week as I am feeling totally tired and exhausted these days,” said Shin Bong-kil, the South Korean Ambassador to India humorously on a lighter note recently.
The ambassador was interacting with the Indian youths during a webinar organized by the Confederation of Young Leaders (CYL).
Replying to a query by a youngster related to the lifting of lockdown in India, the South Korean ambassador responded with COVID-19 pandemic handling experience of the government of the Republic of Korea.
“We just cannot continue shutting down our offices, jobs, factories, and stay in house arrest. I am in a house arrest situation for more than two months. But about easing this kind of shut down, the Korean government is very much conscious, and it is opening schools and most of the area for public gathering there,” said Shin Bong-kil.
“We should wisely live with this kind of disease. The Indian government knows the cases of other countries and knows how to ease these restrictions. We need to create good infrastructures like medical insurance and other facilities and make a resilient society (to face the virus),” he added.
The South Korean ambassador, however, offered a word of caution as well by giving an example of how COVID-19 cases shot up after the Korean government eased restrictions, and youngsters gathered at a night club recently and spread the virus further.
“An infected youngster went to a nightclub where 340 others had gathered, and this created a big problem as this young man spread the virus to 30-40 others. Korean government followed everybody who went to the clubhouse, and could trace every one of them and controlled the spread,” said Shin Bong-kil.
When asked about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, especially the tourism sector, the South Korean ambassador shared the example of the aviation companies in South Korea.
“Tourism has suffered a lot. Some of the Korean companies are almost bankrupt like Korean Air suffered a lot these days and the government helped it. But it can not help them indefinitely. They should adapt to the new situation. We should be prepared to face every kind of changing society, and environment,” he added.
