KCDC Director Jung Eun-kyung takes first leave in 186 days

Director Jung Eun-kyung of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent two days of rest taking leave for the first time in 186 days, ever since the outbreak of COVID-19. According to the KCDC, the Ministry of Personnel Management announced guidelines on summer leave for government workers, encouraging them to spread out personal leave. In spite of this measure, however, KCDC employees were reluctant to take leave with the growing number of confirmed cases arriving from overseas including sailors from Russia though cases of local spread declined. “Director Jung decided to set an example by taking leave after noticing that the employees were too preoccupied in their work,” said an official at the KCDC.

However, Jung attended the quarantine meetings held in the morning of July 23 and 34 due to pending issues such as the return of Korean workers dispatched to Iraq, which meant that the leave lasted from late July 24 to July 25. Jung reportedly stayed at home vacationing, as she had repeatedly stressed during briefing sessions. “I spent my vacation staying at home with my family, taking walks and enjoying meals together,” she said. Jung had said that she hoped to return to normal everyday life when the coronavirus ends, according to an interview with a broadcasting channel earlier this month.


Mee-Jee Lee image@donga.com