According to the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, Korea defends civil liberties. At the same time. however, the constitution also states that civil liberties and rights can be restricted by law only if necessary for 'national security, 'maintenance of order' or 'public welfare'. These two laws inevitably collide, in the case of COVID-19.

The response to COVID-19 of the countries around the world differed in time, speed, scale, and disinfection, and their outcome was in the extreme. The preventive measures against COVID-19 revealed what values each country prioritizes. Some countries closed their borders straight after the outbreak of disease, while others neglected the virus and did not make any sort of arrangements. In the U.S, whose high priority is personal liberty, spent a lot of time debating about whether to wear a mask or not.

Under these circumstances, Korea's quarantine measures have emerged rapidly under the name of K-Epidemic Prevention. South Korea was the country hit by the coronavirus early. Meanwhile, Korea is also the country that showed a rapid reduction ratio of the number of patients.

Anne Genetet's twitter posting

However, some other countries criticize Korea's quarantine rules as dictatorial. Anne Genetet, a French parliamentarian, claimed on the air "It is difficult to compare our response to #COVID19france with that of the countries of Asia-Pacific, which have chosen a profound and violent attack on individual freedoms." British Minister of Transport, Grant Shapps went on to suggest that Asian democracies South Korea and Taiwan are 'authoritarian' and hence the population can be forced into things.

Is the decrease of patients in Korea the result of a violation of personal liberty? At this point, we need to review the current situation that the world encountered. COVID-19 is an unprecedented disaster. Unlike other diseases that have occurred limited in some countries and regions, COVID-19 caused worldwide damage due to its high infection rate and fatality rate, which eventually led the WHO to declare a "pandemic". Social confusion is a matter of course. To protect people's lives and to clear confusion, a wise decision of the nation more important than ever.

Korea has never relied on border closures or lock-downs but has led to successful quarantine by sticking to the principles of democracy, openness, and transparency. It is fact that the Korean government finds out the track of patients through checking CCTVs and press agencies. It is also true that the government set stages of social distancing, and that running stores is somehow restricted.

However, this is a minimum infringement of the right to protect the people's right to life, as well as to fulfill the nation's obligations; protecting the public is a top priority. All actions restricting individual freedom were carried out in the name of protecting the safety of the people. In addition, I would like to emphasize that the Korean people did not implement the quarantine rules by state coercion, but by the spontaneity of themselves. South Koreans voluntarily wore maks and maintained social distancing according to state recommendations. No coercive punishment has ever occurred for failing to implement quarantine rules. After all, K-Epidemic-Prevention is the result based on the mutual trust between the country and the public.

Through K-Epidemic-Prevention, we learned that altruism is necessary to end the Pandemic. Individual freedom and right are established in the sense that they do not violate the human rights of others. Demanding the protection of individual human rights but not considering other people getting sick is egoism, not individualism.

For the end of pandemics, the nation must take steps to guarantee the people's right to life, and the people must cooperate with the nation for one goal of ending COVID-19. And if such a crisis occurs again n the future after the end of the Pandemic, citizens of the world should have a caring heart and cooperation. We need to have the heart to protect others. That will be the key to solve the problem.