Read on Twitter
1. For those of you Korea Watchers out there with one eye trained on influential new Unification Minister Lee In-Young, here's a thread on some interesting comments he made yesterday: https://twitter.com/joongangilbo/status/1300402283625078784
2. Some background: there's a doctor's strike in Korea due to a new government policy increasing the number of licenses issued to new doctors. Naturally, there's a lot of anti-government misinformation being circulated by the union, (and vice versa.) https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/south-korean-doctors-strike-over-training-plan-covid-cases-spike
3. Yesterday a seeming conspiracy theory that the government was planning to draft doctors and forcibly send them to North Korea started circulating, based on a proposed bill which requires ROK to provide medical personnel support to NK in an emergency. https://news.joins.com/article/23860527
4. Here's the relevant text: "in the event of a disaster which requires public health or medical support in either Korea, the government shall make efforts to coordinate a joint response between the two Koreas and provide medical personnel, equipment, and pharmaceutical support."
5. While I think it's silly to legislate a unilateral commitment without Pyeongyang consent, it seems like a stretch to say this evinces an intent to forcibly send doctors North. For what it's worth, the bill's sponsor says that the intent was to support voluntary assistance.
6. At a National Assembly hearing yesterday someone decided to ask Lee whether there was any truth to the rumors. Easy layup right? All you have to do is say that it's a conspiracy theory and that nobody will be sent to North Korea against their will. Well...
7. Lee In-Young's comments:
"I need more time to confirm whether we have the authority to forcibly draft people ... As an extension of pre-existing public health cooperation, I think we'd like to discuss more about procedure as details emerge." https://news.joins.com/article/23861219
"I need more time to confirm whether we have the authority to forcibly draft people ... As an extension of pre-existing public health cooperation, I think we'd like to discuss more about procedure as details emerge." https://news.joins.com/article/23861219
8. Why equivocate and further fuel what seems like an obvious conspiracy theory? Is the ROK actually planning to forcibly send doctors to NK?
Or is Lee's monomania re: inter-Korean projects so intense that he just can't bring himself to dismiss anything, no matter how dystopian?
Or is Lee's monomania re: inter-Korean projects so intense that he just can't bring himself to dismiss anything, no matter how dystopian?
9. Lee In-Young isn't your typical figurehead Unification Minister. He's a politician with real influence. He seems hellbent on using that influence in pursuit of a signature inter-Korean milestone to put on his resume, no matter how detached from reality it makes him look. /end
(Or maybe I'm wrong and the government actually does want to force doctors to go to North Korea. In which case... yikes.)
