Passengers wearing facial masks arrive at the Incheon airport, west of Seoul, on Jan. 29, 2020, from the Chinese city of Tianjin. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Chinese state-run media have suddenly turned into ‘epidemic experts’ as they criticized South Korea and a number of countries for being ‘slow’ to address the coronavirus.
China, where the coronavirus first originated, is currently eyeing the mounting number of coronavirus patients in South Korea to the extent that the current epidemic situation in South Korea appeared as one of the most popular search keywords on Weibo, the so-called ‘Chinese Twitter’.
Global Times, an English version of China’s state-run media, published a joint editorial on Monday, referring to Japan, South Korea, Iran, and Italy as countries most affected by the coronavirus following China.
“The situation in these countries, if compared with Chinese provinces other than Hubei, is already serious,” the editorial said.
“It is worrisome that the prevention and control measures adopted by the above-mentioned countries might be insufficient.”
The editorial argued that, while China was able to muster 40,000 medical staff to support Wuhan and Hubei, other countries may find it difficult to mobilize such massive assistance.
“Hopefully, no country will share the fate of Wuhan,” the editorial said.
“In countries where the situation is already serious, there must be more determined measures to stop the undetected spread which may be underway.”
Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of Global Times, tweeted his criticism directed towards South Korea on Saturday.
“I am worried that Wuhan’s mistake is being repeated in other countries,” the editor said. “From a Chinese point of view, the situation in South Korea seems very serious, and their response is slow.”
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
