4 — Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Alanna Berger
Zack Blumberg

Brittany Bowman
Emily Considine
Jess D’Agostino

Jenny Gurung
Cheryn Hong
Krystal Hur
Ethan Kessler
Zoe Phillips
Mary Rolfes

Michael Russo
Timothy Spurlin
Miles Stephenson

Joel Weiner
Erin White 

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MIN SOO KIM | COLUMN

What we can learn from Korea

A

s much as I would love to 

find a different topic to 

write about, the COVID-

19 pandemic has been the only 

relevant 
topic 
that 
has 
been 

updating itself for the past few 

weeks. The University of Michigan 

encouraged all students to return 

to their permanent residence, so I 

left Ann Arbor to fly back to South 

Korea last Saturday. When I finally 

stepped out of the airplane full of 

people sharing the same objective 

of reaching their homes after about 

14 hours of travel, I could see that 

my home country was dealing with 

the whole pandemic situation in a 

radically different manner.

It usually takes about 10 to 15 

minutes to get through the passport 

control and pick up your luggage at 

the Incheon International Airport. 

However, this time it took me an hour 

and a half. Several teams of airport 

staff members and public health 

workers lined up the passengers 

where they checked if all incoming 

passengers 
had 
downloaded 
a 

self-diagnosis tracking application 

on their phones. I was given 

more than enough information 

and 
explanation 
regarding 
the 

application and the need for us 

to download it to keep track of 

our health. Then, when I finally 

reached the actual checkpoint, 

a public health official checked 

my temperature with a simple 

electronic thermometer. I recorded 

98.6 degrees and was given a piece 

of paper that read “quarantine 

certificate.” I was then asked to fill 

out brief paperwork that asked for 

my address and phone number. 

When I asked the officer collecting 

the paperwork what this was for, 

he kindly answered that the Korean 

government newly mandated all its 

returning citizens to practice self-

quarantine for 14 days and those 

pieces of information were needed 

for the local government of my 

residence to check on my status. 

Out of curiosity, I then asked if 

there would be legal repercussions 

if I broke the self-quarantine and 

the answer was, as expected, 

yes. Noncompliance to the self-

quarantine order is punishable by 

up to a year of imprisonment or a 

fine up to 10,000,000 won, which is 

equivalent to almost $10,000. 

South Korea had two unique 

strategies dealing with COVID-19 

that the United States did not. The 

first was testing. Korea was much 

quicker to react to the global health 

crisis when compared to many other 

countries, partly because of its past 

experience with Middle Eastern 

Respiratory 
Syndrome 
(MERS) 
in 
2015. 

As soon as the first confirmed COVID-

19 case from China was announced, 

Korean companies jumped in on 

developing test kits. Beginning in 

late February, soon after the Lunar 

New Year holidays, Korea started 

to develop the capability of testing 

about 20,000 people a day and now 

has about 10,000 tests run per one 

million people, which is the highest 

confirmed data among all affected 

countries. 

The 
second 
strategy 
was 

heightened, 
yet 
relatively 
well-

accepted, surveillance on citizens. 

This does not mean that the Korean 

government wiretaps phone calls 

or collects all private information 

to track certain individuals down. 

Rather, the government effectively 

utilized the recent trend of cashless 

transactions and spiked use of 

smartphones to track people who 

came in contact with a confirmed 

patient. Korea has the highest 

proportion of cashless transactions 

and one of the highest phone 

ownership rates in the world. In 

addition, 
the 
government 
was 

able to successfully trace those in 

mandatory 14-day self-quarantine; 

the 
application 
I 
was 
told 
to 

download upon arrival was not only 

for self-diagnosis reporting but 

also for location tracking to notify 

the designated local government 

official if I leave my self-quarantine 

spot. 
The 
designated 
local 

government official calls me every 

morning to check if I am still in my 

self-quarantine spot and asks if I 

am showing any symptoms. Korean 

citizens, including myself, do not 

have much problem with being 

possibly traced or receiving phone 

calls from the local government 

every morning. Except for some 

outrageous cases of noncompliance 

to 
the 
self-quarantine 
order, 

including a South Korean student 

traveling to Jeju Island with her 

mother a day after arriving in 

Korea from the U.S., most citizens 

are taking social distancing fairly 

seriously. 

I am certainly not an expert in 

biomedical 
industries 
of 
either 

country but I doubt the U.S. lacks 

the technology or capital to develop 

testing kits. One of the crucial 

differences between Korea and the 

U.S. was the government’s attitude. 

President Trump dismissed the 

potential severity of the virus when 

it first emerged as a global health 

threat while consistently labeling 

it the “Chinese Virus.” President 

Trump had also poorly reorganized 

the 
National 
Security 
Council 

(NSC) so that it was not fit to react 

to pandemics like COVID-19. The 

Obama administration had done the 

same but restored the original NSC 

structure after going through the 

Ebola crisis in 2014. In addition, the 

Trump administration was recently 

found to have told the federal agency 

to classify COVID-19 deliberations, 

keeping crucial information like the 

scope of infection and quarantine 

restrictions from the public. While 

Korea learned from MERS in 2015, 

it seems as if the U.S. did not learn 

much from Ebola in 2014. 

I 
am 
not 
saying 
the 
U.S. 

should implement such a strict 

enforcement 
on 
self-quarantine 

and 
social 
distancing 
without 

much 
consideration. 
Americans 

could certainly react differently 

than Koreans if they were legally 

obligated to not leave their homes 

and local government agents kept 

track of them constantly. However, 

given the recent trend of ever-

increasing cases, some form of 

mandatory social distancing does 

not sound too egregious. The disease 

is not successfully being contained, 

especially in Michigan where the 

cases only continue to rise. Maybe 

the society as a whole really should 

consider a hard-hitting method like 

that of Korea to possibly bring the 

A

s 
Gov. 
Gretchen 

Whitmer tackles the 

COVID-19 crisis, she 

has been met with criticism 

and attacks from President 

Donald Trump. The president 

neglects to mention her by 

name and instead resorts to 

“that woman from Michigan.” 

During his phone interview 

with Sean Hannity of Fox 

News, the president expressed 

concerns about our governor’s 

knowledge of the situation at 

hand. He went on to discount 

her efforts by claiming she 

was young and had no idea 

what was going on. While the 

president’s attacks seem out of 

place in the midst of a global 

pandemic, 
Gov. 
Whitmer 

and women in politics are all 

too familiar with persistent 

criticism and attacks meant to 

undermine their successes.

At the time of publication, 

the state of Michigan sits in 

fourth place for the number of 

confirmed COVID-19 cases in 

the United States. In response, 

Gov. Whitmer has stepped 

up to issue shelter-in-place 

orders, the closure of non-

essential businesses and the 

suspension of the in-person 

school year for public schools. 

The federal government has 

taken a free-for-all approach 

when it comes to the states 

and has pushed for governors 

to bid on supplies and not rely 

on the federal government’s 

support. In addition to this 

approach, 
President 
Trump 

advised Vice President Mike 

Pence not to call “the woman 

from Michigan” because she 

does not treat him right, again 

neglecting to refer to her by 

name.

The lack of recognition or 

support from colleagues is 

nothing new to Gov. Whitmer. 

She started her State of the 

State speech this year by saying 

“This is not the red carpet. 

Please, I urge you, focus on the 

substance of my speech. It’s 

about issues, not appearances.” 

This 
came 
after 
countless 

articles and posts shaming 

Whitmer for her appearance 

after 
her 
first 
address 
to 

the state as governor. Gov. 

Whitmer and other women 

in the public eye face societal 

stigmas as viewers and voters 

frequently focus on what they 

are wearing rather than what 

they are saying or doing. There 

is always a need for women in 

politics to be one step ahead 

and overly prepared in the 

face of misogyny. This reality 

is 
heavily 
perpetuated 
by 

the president as he elects to 

attack Gov. Whitmer rather 

than uniting a country facing 

mass casualties and economic 

catastrophe.

The extra hurdle women must 

clear in order to be at the same 

standing and consideration as 

men was personified by the 

“electability” argument in the 

2020 
Democratic 
primary. 

As many are painfully aware, 

the primary field began as the 

most diverse in history with a 

crowded race of women, racial 

minorities and the first major 

LGBTQ+ candidate. But, the 

flawed electability argument 

of how someone’s neighbor 

would vote and who could beat 

Donald Trump left us with 

a duo of white men over 70 

years old. This argument for 

electability turned out to be 

a veil of internalized racism 

and misogyny as the party 

that represents the broadest 

coalition of people of color 

and minority groups found 

itself 
with 
two 
privileged 

candidates.

The electability narrative 

allows for a greater level 

of criticism as 33 percent 

of Americans believe their 

neighbors 
and 
community 

members 
wouldn’t 
support 

a 
female 
candidate. 
The 

knowledge 
that 
those 

around us are apprehensive 

or unsupportive of women 

in positions of power has 

seemingly excused individuals’ 

lack of trust and support of 

women in politics. While 

women like Gov. Whitmer, 

a former Democratic Senate 

Leader and prosecutor, are 

qualified for the offices they 

hold, it is all too common to 

write them off as aggressive, 

young, 
inexperienced 
and 

pushy.

While 
President 
Trump 

has focused on how Gov. 

Whitmer’s calls for support are 

unappreciative, let us instead 

look to what she has done for 

our state during this time of 

unprecedented 
uncertainty. 

Within three days of our 

first 
cases, 
Gov. 
Whitmer 

announced 
the 
closure 
of 

our 
schools, 
banned 
large 

gatherings 
and 
announced 

restrictions on entry to health 

care and juvenile facilities 

to reduce the spread of the 

virus. Since her early response 

and 
action, 
Gov. 
Whitmer 

rolled out a long string of 

legislation, executive orders 

and trailblazing moves to limit 

COVID-19 in Michigan. This 

leadership by the governor has 

been overlooked and undercut 

by the president. His inability 

to address Gov. Whitmer by 

name, along with advice to 

withhold support from our 

state as we are overwhelmed 

by the virus, is reprehensible.

Our 
president 
frequently 

undermines the successes of 

public officials and attacks 

those at odds with his mission. 

While he does this, we must 

pay close attention to how 

he and those up and down 

the political totem poll treat 

and speak about women in 

positions 
of 
power. 
Many 

Americans 
assume 
those 

around them do not have faith 

in women in the political 

sphere as they write off and 

criticize women in relation to 

men. It’s past due for us to take 

it upon ourselves to look at the 

policies rather than the outfits 

and not participate in the herd 

mentality of electability when 

determining 
who 
is 
“best 

suited” for the job. And it’s 

past due for our president to 

refer to the governor strained 

for supplies and support by her 

name. 

In defense of “that woman from Michigan”

OWEN STECCO | COLUMN

Owen Stecco can be reached at 

ostecco@umich.edu.

Min Soo Kim can be reached at 

kiminsoo@umich.edu.

This leadership by 
the governor has 
been overlooked 
and undercut by 

the president.

