Defense Minister Han Min-koo visited a military medical center Sunday for MERS patients to help soothe the growing concerns over the disease that has claimed 14 lives in the country over the past weeks.

Han arrived at the medical center at the Osan air base in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, 55 kilometers south of Seoul, early in the morning, the Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding Han asked the medics to be fully prepared for any additional breakouts of the disease among servicemembers.

No confirmed MERS patients exist at the moment in the barracks.

An Air Force chief master sergeant was treated at the center after having been diagnosed as a MERS patient, but was released Thursday along with four others who had been suspected of being infected.

The chief master sergeant has visited a hospital in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, to donate his blood plasma for the treatment of MERS patients.

Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo also visited a military hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, accommodating two suspected MERS patients and eight others who had close contact with MERS patients, to encourage staff members there.

Baek returned home Saturday after a weeklong trip to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary to discuss ways to boost defense cooperation with the eastern European countries. (Yonhap)