Military chiefs get AstraZeneca shots for overseas trips

Defense Minister Suh Wook and Gen. Won In-choul, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, received their first doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on Friday as they prepared to travel overseas.

Suh is taking part in the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 4-5, while Won will attend a change-of-command ceremony for the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii later this month. There Won will meet with his US and Japanese counterparts to discuss expanding military ties.

South Korea’s military began distributing AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in March, when it inoculated health care workers. Injections for all service members will start as early as June, and soldiers serving at the front line or in key units will be given priority, the military said.

As of Friday, the military had reported 689 infections and 664 recoveries. The country’s tally of confirmed cases stood at 112,789 with 1,790 deaths.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)