Doctor at odds with Seoul mayor over MERS released from hospital

The doctor, engaged in a war of words with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon over a deadly respiratory disease, has been released from a hospital after being treated for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, an official said Sunday.

The doctor at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul was at the center of public attention in June when Park said in a news conference that the doctor had direct and indirect contact with over 1,500 people when a MERS infection was suspected.

The doctor -- who was confirmed to have been infected with the virus in early June -- has rejected Park's claims, noting there was a discrepancy in the timing of when he showed suspected symptoms of the virus.

Hospital officials had once considered a lung transplant due to serious damage to the doctor's lung, but he later recovered enough to be able to recuperate at home, according to an official of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The deadly virus killed 38 South Koreans this year. (Yonhap)