[Reporter's Colum] Blame game, confusion fuel panic

In light of nationwide fears over the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome, the government appears to have finally gotten its act together, setting up an emergency response team to collect information and devise proper countermeasures.

The media is being regularly briefed every day on the latest developments of what is one of the biggest nationwide health concerns since the swine flu in 2009.

A closer look at the meetings and briefings, however, begs the question on how effective these emergency response teams are.

One example is the apparent inability of the Education Ministry and local education offices to share and procure proper information about the student-related MERS case.

On Monday, the Health Ministry confirmed South Korea’s first teenage MERS patient a 16-year-old boy. But the subsequent media briefings were prolific only in words and contained little facts.

Numerous variations of “We don’t know” or “It has not been confirmed yet” spewed out from officials of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, whose job includes taking care of students’ well-being.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education on Tuesday said the student in question was in fact from Gyeonggi Province, contrary to an earlier announcement that the teen was from Seoul. The office said it obtained the information from its own sources, not the health authorities, and urged them to release all relevant information.

Putting aside their excuse that the Health Ministry was monopolizing information, the SMOE appeared to be making only minimal efforts on its own.

In perhaps one of the most bizarre ways to address queries from the media, the SMOE gathered information from news outlets and relayed it back to the reporters. As a result, very little information could be confirmed ― none of which included critical knowledge such as the school’s name and location, where the boy lived and if he met other students since catching the virus.

Likewise, the Education Ministry seemed only a little less oblivious to the situation.

After the initial report of the teen infection, a ministry official confirmed that the boy had attended a Seoul-based high school in the morning. But his colleague contradicted him, saying that they were not certain about the location of the boy’s school.

Later, the officials were not shy in admitting that their flip-flopping statements derived from the fact that they were not being given accurate information from the higher-ups.

The laughable situation exposed two important problems. One was the lack of coordination between government bodies. The second, perhaps more critical, was the seemingly complacent attitude of the authorities.

“Unifying the outlet for all relevant information is more efficient. What would happen if all government bodies started providing their own versions of the situation?” said a high-ranking official from the Education Ministry.

Brushing past the central government that had been taking low-profile measures against MERS until earlier this week, local municipalities including Seoul, Seongnam and Bucheon started debriefing on the outbreak status on their own.

The move, while praised by many hungry for official information on the virus, also drew criticism for unveiling unconfirmed or inconsistent facts.

Cheong Wa Dae, for its part, shot back that their “excessive” information-sharing escalated panic and confusion. Some also accused the local heads of being politically motivated.

All of this underlined the policymakers’ inability to work in seamless tandem at the cost of the public’s confusion and further aggravating the sense of chaos.

Last week, the Health Ministry said that a little under 300 students and teachers had been quarantined for MERS risks. But it turned out, according to Rep. Jeong Jin-hoo from the minor Justice Party, the Education Ministry’s figure was only 32.

While Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea advised schools to cancel classes Friday, the Health Ministry announced the same day that there was no need to do so.

“I think (the Health Ministry) did not know that Hwang had already advised schools to cancel classes, since their announcement came before his,” said an Education Ministry official on a MERS special response team.

(Not) surprisingly, even this excuse proved incongruous, as Hwang’s announcement had actually preceded the Health Ministry’s.

And yet, the government still claims the public has no reason to panic.

By Yoon Min-sik ()