First lawsuit filed over state MERS response

A lawyer lodged a lawsuit against the government for its mishandling of the outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome, the first such lawsuit to be filed against the authorities.

Moon Jeong-gu, a lawyer for the Seoul-based law firm Ahn & Chang, said Sunday that he filed the suit with the Seoul Administrative Court on Friday, accusing the government of failing to carry out a duty to protect its people by keeping key information from the public.

“The government has a duty to disclose specific information such as hospitals where MERS confirmed patients stayed and the patients’movement for its people to be cautious for themselves,” Moon said.

“The government kept the list of the MERS-affected hospitals confidential for 19 days after the first case was confirmed, exposing the public to the danger of infection,” he added.

Saying that the information could contribute to public panic, health authorities declined to name the hospitals after the outbreak of the deadly virus began on May 20. It finally revealed the list on June 7 amid growing public calls for the information.

South Korea has grappled with the spread of MERS since the nation reported its first case. The deadly virus has claimed 27 lives, with more than 172 confirmed of the disease as of Monday afternoon, though its spread appeared to show signs of abating.

Korea has seen the biggest outbreak of MERS outside Saudi Arabia, where the virus was first discovered in 2012.

Moon called the government’s response “belated,” pointing out that the information came when there were already 64 patients confirmed of the virus, five deaths reported and 2,361 people under quarantine.

“The government deprived the public of rights to know, as the current law does not include any specific rules on how to share information on the outbreak of infectious disease and how the public can respond to it,” the lawyer claimed.

Regarding the suit, Moon said that he is not seeking any financial compensation from the state, but wants to have the judicial branch confirm that the government failed to properly cope with the outbreak at the initial stage.

“I wanted to leave the government’s botched response on a national record (to prevent recurrence of such a case),” Moon said.

The legal procedure is expected to take about three to four months to reach a conclusion, he added.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)