South Korean Local Reports Have Been Linking Gay People To The Coronavirus Outbreak, Government Steps In
South Korea has issued a warning against the leaking of personal information of coronavirus patients after local media linked a recent coronavirus outbreak to gay people.
Although South Korea has been praised for its handling of the pandemic, recently at least 86 cases have been confirmed and have been linked to several nightclubs in the country’s capital, Seoul. Local media reported the nightclubs as being “gay clubs”, although none of the venues describe themselves as that.
On top of that, reports also specified age, district, type and work information about the individuals. At a news conference, health ministry official Yoon Tae-ho warned that “leaking personal information of confirmed patients or spreading baseless rumors not only harms other but could be criminally punished,” and said there was a trend of “criticism and hate against a certain group to which the infection occurred.”
According to ‘CNN’, LGBT+ advocates have criticised the media's reaction to the nightclub outbreak. Advocacy group Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea said in a statement that “revealing sexual orientation of the patients ... adds stigma of disease upon the rampant homophobia in South Korean society.”
They added that recent reporting would drive coronavirus cases underground, make “self-isolation difficult and is a detriment to testing.”
“One must protect the personal information of infected and their family and also respect their privacy," KCDC deputy director Kwon Joon-wook said last Thursday, referring to reporting guidelines drafted by South Korea's journalist associations in April.
South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deputy director Kwon Joon-wook said that “One must protect the personal information of infected and their family and also respect their privacy,” referring to reporting guidelines drafted by South Korea's journalist associations in April.
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