COVID-19 crisis and crisis management in South Korea, 2020–2021

Thanks to its effective quarantine and disinfection practices, South Korea has responded relatively successfully to COVID-19. In addition to historical experience, this success could be attributed to the sacrifice of healthcare workers. Despite the country’s success in controlling the spread of COVID-19, many socially underprivileged have suffered socioeconomic difficulties. Although South Korea has maintained a prosperous economy with sound fiscal management, budgetary allocations have been insufficient and countermeasures against the crisis were too strongly biased toward business interests. The economic bureaucrats who led these policy responses were preoccupied with revitalizing capital accumulation and fiscal soundness, and elected officials failed to control them. While the South Korean government has promoted ICT innovation and online platform development as new alternatives for the post-COVID-19 era, these are hardly solutions to existing problems, and a capitalist utilization of these alternatives will cause other problems.