Lawmakers of the right-wing Liberty Korea Party have adopted a resolution, demanding the government prohibit all foreign nationals entering Korea from China until the new coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak ends.

All of the 107 party members, including floor leader Shim Jae-cheol, signed the resolution.

LKP lawmakers said the government failed to respond to the “Wuhan coronavirus outbreak” preemptively despite the experience from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015. “As the government’s belated, passive, and humiliating response worsened local transmissions, we decided to prevent a further spread of the Wuhan coronavirus and an early ending of the outbreak,” the resolution said.

The resolution calls for an entry ban on all foreigners, including Chinese, who enter Korea from China, active support for isolated medical examination rooms, and disclosure of where the confirmed patients visited and in what specific routes they took, in real-time.

“Call failures reveal the government’s poor responses at 1339 hotline, lack of diagnostic kits, shortages of face masks and hand sanitizers, and loopholes in quarantine process,” the lawmakers said.

They urged the government to take practical measures to end the new coronavirus outbreak and prevent infectious diseases as early as possible.

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