[Excerpt from the Meeting of the Overcoming National Crisis Committee on COVID-19]

“Korea will soon win in fight against COVID-19.”

□ March 9, 2020 (Mon.)

■ Lee Nak-yeon, Chairperson of the Overcoming National Crisis Committee on COVID-19

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is being prolonged, deepening the pain and suffering for the public affected by this health emergency. It is safe to say that this public health emergent situation is a national crisis. I would like to extend my sincere condolences to all fellow Koreans who are worried about the safety and well-being of themselves and their family members and are suffering from the inconvenience caused by the spread of COVID-19. Despite all their inconvenience and suffering, the people of Korea are joining forces to fight the further spread of the coronavirus with their wisdom and dedication. 

We are now entering a stage where issues that have concerned us are being resolved one after another. Beginning from today, a five-day rotation system for buying protective masks will take effect. According to a public survey, 55 percent of Koreans are reported to consider this rotation system appropriate. It will also be possible to buy masks on behalf of senior citizens, long-term patients, and children. Services for disclosing information on the number of masks local pharmacies have in stock will begin from this week, which, we expect, will ease public inconvenience to some extent. I hope that the understanding and cooperation of our fellow Koreans will help the five-day rotation system become settled as soon as possible. The ruling DPK will continue to monitor the process of the system taking root and, if necessary, make improvements. 

Against this backdrop, the ruling DPK today decided to merge existing bodies related to responses to the outbreak, and form an ad-hoc committee called the “Overcoming National Crisis Committee on COVID-19” to focus all the party’s resources on overcoming COVID-19. The committee will begin operations from today. We have assigned to the newly established committee all lawmakers who have completed most of their legislative activities for the 20th National Assembly. If there are matters requiring swift action, we will act accordingly; if there are matters that can be solved from a long-term perspective, we will address them with long-term strategies.  

South Korea will win in our battle against COVID-19. We need to gather strength and fight together. As chairperson of the committee, I promise that the ruling DPK will do our utmost to overcome this national emergency.