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한국사람들 '에볼라 히스테리' 주한 아프리카대사들 우려

Aug. 27, 2014 - 11:25 By KH디지털2

 

한국의 에볼라 공포증은 도를 넘어 “에볼라 히스테리”로 변하고 있으며 해외 외교관들은 이러한 잘못된 공포증에 대항하려고 노력하고 있다. 

8월 4일부터 15일 예정되었던 제2차 차세대 여성 글로벌 파트너십 세계대회를 유엔과 함께 준비중이었던 서울에 있는덕성여대는 세명의 나이지리아 여성 초대를 정중히 취소했다.  

또 많은 한국의 의료 봉사자들도 서아프리카에서 예정된 봉사활동을 취소했으며 대한항공은 케냐 나이로비로 가는 직항 행을 금지했다. 

케냐는 감염국가군 — 리베리아, 시에라리온, 기니, 나이지리아— 에 속하지도 않았음에도 불구하고 인천-나이로비 직항을 8월 14일 금지하는 조치를 내렸다. 아마도 나이로비 국제공항이 이러한 국가들을 연결하는 항공 허브 역할을 하고 있다는 사실때문에 이러한 조치를 취한것으로 보인다.

세계보건기구가 에볼라는 공기로 인해 감염되는 바이러스가 아니라는 것을 공식적으로 발표했음에도 불구하고 한국은 에볼라에 관한 잘못된 상식으로 인해 공포에 떨고 있다. 

지난 주 수요일  느고비 키타우 케냐대사가 대한항공 이상범 해외판매담당 임원을 만나 이러한 금지 결정을 조속히 철회 해 줄것을 요청했지만 아직 철회된 상태는 아니다. 그는 또 지난주 목요일에는 한국  외교부 중동.아프리카 국장을 만나 정부측에서 ”에볼라 패닉“ 상태가 진정되도록 도움을 요청했다.

이러한 “에볼라 히스테리”는 최근에 이태원의 한 선술집 (pub)에도 “감염시켜” 입구 앞에 “죄송하지만 에볼라 바이러스로 인해 아프리카인들을 받지 않겠다”라는 팻말을 걸어놓기도 했다. 이 팻말은 빠른 속도로 SNS에 퍼졌고 큰 논란이 되었다. 이 술집은 곧바로 팻말을 내렸으며 사과를 했다. 

에볼라에 관한 잘못된 상식이 이와 같은 상황을 야기시키고 있다고 지적하며  아프리카 주한 외교관들은 이를 “에볼라 히스테리”라고 부르고 있다. 

“홍콩에 조류독감이 유행한다고 해서 아시아 전체를 ‘조류독감’으로 낙인 찍으면 안되듯 아프리카 전체를 ‘에볼라’라고 낙인찍으면 안된다. 에볼라 바이러스는 아프리카 한 곳에서 일어나는 일이며 아프리카 전체가 감염됐다고 생각하는 것은 옳지 않다”라고 남아공 힐튼 데니스 대사는 강조했다. “한국 기업들도 합리적인 해결방안을 찾아야 한다“고 덧붙혔다. 

이러한 경우도 있었다. 8월 8일 서울의 한 호텔에서 코트디부아르 국경일을 맞아 대사관에서 리셉션을 하고 있었는데 호텔 직원들이 에볼라 때문에 대사관에서 가져온 음식을 서빙하는것에 찜찜해 했다고 주한대사인 실베스타 바일 대사가 밝혔다. 그는 한국정부가 해 줄 수있는 조치가 없어서 공식항의는 하지 않았다고 말했다.

(코리아헤럴드 조한나 인턴기자 hnncho@heraldcorp.com)
(사진 출처: Philip Iglauer/코리아 헤럴드) 


<관련 영문 뉴스>

Envoy assails Korean ‘Ebola panic’

Foreign envoys posted here representing countries in Africa are pushing back at what they describe as an irrational “Ebola panic,” amid fears among the South Korean public of the spread of the deadly disease that is currently affecting parts of West Africa.

Earlier this month, Duksung Women’s University rescinded an invitation for three young women from Nigeria to attend the World Congress of Global Partnership for Young Women 2014, which took place from Aug. 4-15.

Duksung Women’s University in Seoul said the school “politely withdrew” its invitation for three Nigerian students to attend an international conference that it is cohosting with the United Nations.

At around the same time, a group of South Korean medical volunteers called off a trip to West Africa.

Then, on Aug. 14, Korean Air announced it would suspend direct flights to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, the capital city of the East African nation of Kenya, even though it is not among the four West African countries affected by Ebola ― Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.

KAL’s fears presumably stem from the fact Jomo International is a major air transit hub and serves those nations. 

But the World Health Organization on Aug. 15 announced in a statement that there is little chance of international air travel acting as a conduit for spreading the Ebola virus around the globe, repeatedly emphasizing that such a risk was “low.”

“The risk of transmission of the Ebola virus disease during air travel is low. Unlike … influenza or tuberculosis, Ebola is not spread by breathing air (and airborne particles it contains) from an infected person,” according to a recent statement by the WHO on Aug. 18.

The WHO also urged airlines around the world to not cancel flights to countries affected by the outbreak in West Africa.

Kenya’s top diplomat here attempted to persuade the government and Korean Air that canceling flights to East Africa is not a rational response to the fear of the spread of the Ebola virus affecting parts of West Africa. 

On Wednesday, Kenyan Ambassador to South Korea Ngovi Kitau said he met with Lee Sang-beom, vice president of Global Sales at Korean Air, to persuade him to rescind the company’s decision to cancel direct flights to East Africa. That cancelation remains in place.

The Ebola panic was even manifested in a popular entertainment district in Seoul over the weekend of Aug. 16, causing a storm of controversy on social media sites.

Owners of JR Pub in Itaewon, once popular with both locals and expatriates residing in Seoul, posted signs on the front window of their establishment that read, “We apologize but due to Ebola virus we are not accepting Africans at the moment.”

Banning all Africans from the pub would include over 1 billion people ― including the several thousand who reside in South Korea ― even though there has not been a single reported case of the deadly disease here.

Though the signs were quickly taken down and the owners apologized ― after backlash on social media primarily by non-Koreans residing here ― the extreme case of panic pointed to the unfortunate consequences of a palpable fear among the South Korean public, according to foreign envoys posted here. Many of the envoys asked described it as “Ebola hysteria.

“Stigmatizing an entire people for something that is happening in one small part of an entire continent is simply unfair. You cannot say that, if there is bird flu in Hong Kong, that you therefore punish all of Asia. It is simply not fair. In fact, it is really a medieval approach,” said South African Ambassador to South Korea Hilton Dennis on Tuesday during a reception celebrating the 54th National Day of a Gabon, a country on the west coast of central Africa.

“I think Korean companies must conduct with their publics to find rational solutions.”

British Ambassador Scott Wightman and Indian Ambassador Vishnu Prakash, two foreign diplomats posted here, spoke out about the unfairly prejudicial signs via their Twitter accounts. 

In another incident exemplifying irrational fear of the spread from Africans here of the Ebola virus, the Ivorian ambassador described an incident that took place on the National Day of Cote d’Ivoire at a hotel in Seoul on Aug. 8.

Ivorian Ambassador to South Korea Sylvestre Bile said some servers at the event were “not happy with serving food brought from the residence because of Ebola,” adding that he did not submit a formal complaint to the government because “What can the government do? The panic is too widespread.

“It’s a panic. It is very unfortunate that people here are panicking about this. If something happens in one part of Africa, then that means everyone in Africa is infected. It is not true,” Bile said. 

Korean Air’s last flight on the route was Wednesday. That flight carried six Kenyan officials in Seoul for a conference on South Korea’s “Saemaul Undong” movement, a 1970s rural development initiative promoted by Seoul in many African nations.

The carrier was flying three flights a week between Seoul and Nairobi. It is the only direct flight to Africa by an airline based in East Asia. On Thursday, Kitau said he even met with Kwon Hee-seog, director-general of the Bureau for African and Middle East Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, to solicit the government’s help to tamp down the panic. 

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2014@heraldcorp.com)