▲ Jung Eun-kyeong introduced in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), one of the American dailies, analyzed the current state of COVID-19, and highlighted the role of health authorities in each country. In particular, talking about the Korean case, it introduced Jung Eun-kyeong,  head of the central quarantine task force at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as a "real hero".

Through a series of Sam Walker's Columns, the WSJ introduced the information that states as the COVID-19 spreads around the world, something interesting is happening. It's not a self-respecting, politically calculating leader, but a professional bureaucrat is more heroic. It added that those who are trusted by the public are also key officials armed with expertise, not the president and other elected leaders.

Walker then picked Jenny Harris, UK's chief medical officer, Muthiah Kagwe, Kenya's health minister, and Anthony Pouch, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Disease (NIAID), as the main figures. Walker said that what they all have in common is that they were rarely known to the public before the COVID-19, explaining that in the situation of crisis, no one is interested in how famous they are.

▲ Jung Eun-kyeong giving a briefing

The WSJ devoted considerable space to introduce Jung's case. Jung's consistent and frank comments, information-based analysis, and patient calmness are powerful to the public. It was said and also evaluated with this statement, in the high crisis, the public instinctively trusts her and believes what she says is true.

The article ended with Jung's response that she sleeps more than an hour when she was asked about sleep time during the briefing.

April 19th, 2020

by Kim Hyeon