Privacy and the containment of Covid-19: The Korean case

Professor Nohyoung Park of Korea University School of Law explains how his country responded to the challenges posed by the pandemic.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) is regarded as a successful country(1) in containing the spread of Covid-19. Its success is criticized, however, for infringing the privacy of infected patients and others during epidemiological investigations(2). Contact tracing in particular involves identifying people who have an infectious disease, and their contacts, to interrupt disease transmission and build the grounds for determining the quarantine scope. Infected patients’ privacy may be violated while collecting supplementary information such as cellular GPS information, credit card transactions, and CCTV footages as well as personal information on their location.

International Report subscribers please login to access the full article.

If you wish to subscribe please see our subscription information.