How Korea Mastered COVID-19

Hannah Chen

SINGAPORE—I have already lost count of how many times my mom had mentioned Korea since the coronavirus had flooded our lives and thoughts. During dinner, my younger sister would roll her eyes, sick of this constant chatter over South Korea’s handling of the coronavirus. But, nonetheless, my mom would continue on about how still, despite this worldwide pandemic, Korea wasn’t under a lockdown, Korea wasn’t banning Chinese citizens from entering the country, Korea wasn’t under major panic. In spite of this immediate and sudden chaos, Korea was the closest to normal.

But no matter how many times my mom may have slipped her country into our conversations, I ignored my sister’s pleading glare to tell my mom to stop and, instead, let her continue. She can be proud. She should be.

In my experience as a half-Korean, South Korea is that country everyone knows about but doesn’t really know about. Everyone knows about Korean BBQ, but few know of 짜장면 (Jjajangmyeon), 김밥 (Gimbap), 김치찌개 (Kimchi-jjigae) -- and these are only a tiny percent of what Korean food has to offer. Everyone knows about Korea’s high-quality plastic surgery industry and skincare industry, but few understand how great Korea’s makeup actually is. Everyone knows about BTS, but few know about the other rising stars in Korea that have well-deserved fame but aren’t seen internationally. Everyone knows about Seoul, but what about Daegu, Busan, Pyeongchang?

Throughout history, South Korea has consistently been forgotten about, skipped over in history textbooks, and nonexistent on the globe. Although, in the 21st Century, their culture has begun to grow, many people have subconsciously placed Korea in a place in their minds where it’s famous enough to know, but not enough to care about. Even my international classmates at school, despite being surrounded by tons of Koreans, can barely name an “unstereotypical” Korean thing. 

“Where are you going for Christmas vacation?” one of my classmates asked me as our class ended. I glanced up at him, smiling.

“Seoul, South Korea, to visit my grandparents,” I responded. He nodded, wishing me a great winter break, after telling me that he was headed to Osaka, Japan. As I packed up my own bags, glancing a farewell to my math teacher’s classroom, I paused, reminding myself of the several other classmates who were also heading somewhere beautiful in Japan. 

If you aren’t Korean, it’s rare to hear someone else say that they are headed to Korea for a vacation; even though this may seem like quite a small and insignificant detail, it’s true. Many of my friends are either staying in Singapore, heading to Europe, back home to America, the Maldives, Bali, or Japan. To hear someone traveling to Korea, unfortunately, is seldom. 

However, ever since COVID-19 has exploded in our lives in ways we could’ve never imagined in 2019, South Korea has been slowly gaining greater recognition for its success, with a couple of interesting exceptions. I’ve read countless articles praising the work that South Korea has been doing, especially with containing the number of their cases without needing to severely restrict the way Koreans live. Several students from my school have left back to Korea since the conditions there are better than the ones in Singapore, which I would love to do. My grandma calls my mom more often than normal due to the involvement of the coronavirus in all of our lives, and she tells us how the only thing different about Korea is that everyone is wearing a mask and that Shinsegae is emptier. Although I doubt that these are the only things that are different, Korea definitely has been controlling this pandemic better than some of the most strongest and powerful countries out there, and that in itself is amazing. 

I also think that something that has greatly helped South Korea’s overall ability to minimize the spreading of the coronavirus is the culture -- many Koreans are health conscious and value respecting others, so many were quick to begin wearing masks and stop partying (with the rare circumstances of the religious movement spread and the recent club incident). People were willing to listen to such precautions early enough, and because of this, Korea was able to prevent the explosion of chaos that has occurred in other countries. No one was fighting over toilet paper.

Hopefully, after the fear, terror, and insanity dies down in time, people will better appreciate what Korea has to offer. South Korea is getting its name out there and shining brightly underneath many other “higher” powers. I can’t help but be proud as well.