COVID-19 In Korea Research Articles

Age Differences in Psychological Antecedents and Behavioral Consequences of Stigmatization Associated with COVID-19 among Koreans.

The first goal of this study is to develop a conceptual model of the causal relationship between psychological antecedents (internal attribution, anger, dangerousness, fear) of stigmatization, stigmatization (public stigma, anticipated stigma), and the behavioral consequences (compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines, COVID-19 testing intention) of stigmatization associated with COVID-19. The second goal of the study is to investigate the age differences in the conceptual model between younger and older adults unconfirmed with COVID-19 in Korea. After building the model based on previous studies, an online survey was conducted with Koreans in their 20s (n = 300, females: 50%) and 60s (n = 300, females: 50%) who had not been confirmed with COVID-19. The results revealed that for participants in their 20s and 60s, their internal attribution of COVID-19 infection to individuals confirmed with COVID-19 enhanced their anger at the individuals. Afterward, their anger increased their anticipated stigma of being confirmed with COVID-19 through enhancing the public stigma of the individuals confirmed with COVID-19. Unexpectedly, the fear of individuals confirmed with COVID-19 elicited by the dangerousness of the individuals had no effect on the public stigma of the individuals among participants in their 20s and 60s. The fear directly enhanced their compliance with the COVID-19 prevention guidelines. Next, for participants in their 20s, their anticipated stigma increased their compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines, but not their COVID-19 testing intention. However, the anticipated stigma did not affect both the compliance with the COVID-19 prevention guidelines and COVID-19 testing intention among participants in their 60s. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.

Combination of factors influencing COVID-19 infections in Korea, by region

Given the fact that the number of COVID-19 infections in Korea shows a large variation by region, this study attempted to analyse what combination of factors might lead to a decrease in the number of infections. As the dependent variable, the proportion of the local population infected with the virus (i.e. the coronavirus infection rate) was used. Sixteen independent variables were then selected, and five of them which have an important effect were selected from among these. Neural network analysis and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) were the analysis methods used. In selecting the analysis period, from January 2020 to December 2021, it was found that COVID-19 in Korea could be divided into three stages, each of which could be explained by a different combination of conditions.

Effect of Job Stress on Burnout among Nurses Responding to COVID-19: The Mediating Effect of Resilience.

Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship of job stress, burnout, and resilience of 271 nurses who worked alternately at a university hospital in South Korea Province and a state-designated inpatient ward for COVID-19 in Korea. Methods: The study sample included nurses who worked at a university hospital in South Korea, during the period between February 2020 and May 2021. The participants (n = 271) responded to an online survey between April 2021 and 12 May 2021. The questionnaire included information related to job stress, burn out, and resilience. Results: In phase 1 of regression, job stress had a significant negative effect on resilience of recovery (β = −0.397, p < 0.001). In phase 2, job stress had a significant positive effect on burnout (β = 0.513, p < 0.001). In phase 3, resilience had a significant negative effect on burnout (β = −0.459, p < 0.001). Seventy-five percent of burnout was directly associated with job stress, while 25% of burnout was indirectly associated through mediated effects, through resilience. Conclusions: The promotion of resilience would not only serve as the basis for active coping in situations where burnout and stress are severe, but also serve as a basic driving force for actively overcoming them. Further study to cope with stress and reduce burnout at the organizational level should be conducted.

COVID-19 발생에 따른 서울시 버스 이용의 시공간적 패턴 변화: 빅데이터 기반의 네트워크 클러스터 분석을 이용하여

This study analyzes the spatiotemporal changes of bus network clusters before and after COVID-19 with the purpose of exploring areas with high potential for the spread of infectious diseases. As the analysis method, the   statistic was used, which is an extension of the Getis and Ord   statistic to spatial network framework. Since statistical calculation is applied for individual flows in the bus transportation network, a parallel computing method and a supercomputer hardware are applied for the large-scale operations. The result is as follows: First, bus flows in networks are concentrated in limited places during COVID-19. Second, during COVID-19, bus uses to residential and agricultural areas increased, and bus uses to commercial and transportation areas decreased. Third, unlike other CBD clusters, no significant changes were observed in bus flow in Gangnam before and during COVID-19. This study presents the first analysis and identification of bus network cluster before and during COVID-19 in Korea.

Changes in the Epidemiology and Causative Pathogens of Meningitis in Children After the Outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Multicenter Database Study.

BackgroundWith the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing have been implemented worldwide, and a decrease in other infectious diseases has been reported as an unexpected benefit. However, to date, studies are lacking regarding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on neuroinfectious diseases; therefore, we aimed to determine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of meningitis, which is the most common infectious disease in children.MethodsThis retrospective study used electronic medical record data from five university hospitals located in the metropolitan cities in Korea. This study included patients aged <18 years who were diagnosed with meningitis between January 2017 and December 2020. We analyzed the clinical characteristics of patients with meningitis and changes in the incidence and causative pathogens of meningitis before and after the COVID-19 outbreak.ResultsThe study included 677 patients with meningitis. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Korea in January 2020, the incidence of childhood meningitis significantly decreased and seasonal changes noted yearly disappeared. There was a difference in the age distribution of patients with meningitis. The incidence of meningitis decreased significantly in children aged >5 years, and the incidence in children <5 years of age relatively increased (p < 0.001). In addition, there was a notable decrease in the cases of suspected meningitis (p < 0.001). The incidence of enteroviral meningitis, the most common cause of meningitis, significantly decreased.ConclusionAfter the COVID-19 outbreak, the incidence of childhood meningitis significantly decreased with the implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions. Absence of enteroviral meningitis and decrease in the proportion of patients aged ≥5 years with meningitis having mild symptoms were noted. Consequently, it can be concluded that the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) instituted to prevent the spread of COVID-19 had some effect on reducing the incidence of meningitis.

Age-Varying Susceptibility to the Delta Variant (B.1.617.2) of SARS-CoV-2

The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) is estimated to be more transmissible than previous strains of SARS-CoV-2, especially among children and adolescents. However, to our knowledge, there are no reports confirming this to date. To gain a better understanding of the association of age with susceptibility to the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. This decision analytic model used an age-structured compartmental model using the terms symptom onset (S), exposure (E), infectious (I), and quarantine (Q) (SEIQ) to estimate the age-specific force of infection, combining age-specific contact matrices and observed distribution of periods between each stage of infection (E to I [ie, latent period], I given S, and S to Q [ie, diagnostic delay]) developed in a previous contact tracing study. A bayesian inference method was used to estimate the age-specific force of infection (S to E) and, accordingly, age-specific susceptibility. The age-specific susceptibility during the third wave (ie, before Delta, from October 15 to December 22, 2020, when the COVID-19 vaccination campaign was not yet launched) and the fourth wave (ie, the Delta-driven wave, from June 27 to August 21, 2021) in Korea were compared. As vaccine uptake increased, individuals who were vaccinated were excluded from the susceptible population in accordance with vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variant. This nationwide epidemiologic study included individuals who were diagnosed with COVID-19 during the study period in Korea. Data were analyzed from September to November 2021. Age group during the third wave (ie, before Delta) and fourth wave (ie, Delta-driven) of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. Age-specific susceptibility during the third and fourth waves was estimated. Among 106 866 confirmed COVID-19 infections (including 26 597 infections and 80 269 infections during the third and fourth waves of COVID-19 in Korea, respectively), a significant difference in age-specific susceptibility to the Delta vs pre-Delta variant was found in the younger age group. After adjustment for contact pattern and vaccination status, the increase in susceptibility to the Delta vs pre-Delta variant was estimated to be highest in the group aged 10 to 15 years, approximately doubling (1.92-fold increase [95% CI, 1.86-fold to 1.98-fold]), whereas in the group aged 50 years or more, susceptibility to the Delta vs pre-Delta variant remained stable at an approximately 1-fold change (eg, among individuals aged 50-55 years: 0.997-fold [95% CI, 0.989-fold to 1.001-fold). In this study, the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 was estimated to propagate more easily among children and adolescents than pre-Delta strains, even after adjusting for contact pattern and vaccination status.

How Should the Structure of Smart Cities Change to Predict and Overcome a Pandemic?

A proposed countermeasure to COVID-19 is a robust healthcare system that can respond and identify transmission paths using information technology. This involves the use of smart city services for tracking an infected person. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare system could only provide data on the number of infected people. Additionally, smart city services could respond neither timely nor sequentially. This study proposed a method for timely and sequential responses, through a flexible combination of the healthcare system and smart city services by envisioning a scenario that sequentially grafts the current status of COVID-19 in Korea. The results are the following. First, the COVID-19 outbreak was summarized in the context of the healthcare system and current smart city services. A method by which the latter could respond to the various needs of the former was suggested. Second, recommendations on combining or dismissing certain smart city services, as per the needs of coping with COVID-19, were summarized. Third, smart city services must be utilized only for addressing pandemics, as data from the healthcare system consists of personal information. Therefore, smart city services for responding to COVID-19 must be flexible.

Decline in Hospital Visits by Patients with Schizophrenia Early in the COVID-19 Outbreak in Korea.

ObjectiveThis study investigated trends in hospital utilization by patients with schizophrenia during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Korea.MethodsThe Prophet algorithm was used to predict the monthly number of patients with schizophrenia in 2020 based on medical insurance data between 2010 and 2019. The projected expectations were compared with the actual number of patients receiving outpatient and inpatient treatment each month in the first half of 2020. We conduct interrupted time series analyses of short-term data to determine the significance of recent changes in the trend of hospital visits by patients with schizophrenia.ResultsThe prediction model showed that the actual number of patients receiving treatment each month during the early COVID-19 outbreak decreased by up to 3.6% compared to the projected expectations. The interrupted time series model also revealed a significant change in hospital utilization compared to the year before the onset of COVID-19 in Korea (F = 8.961, p = 0.010).ConclusionThis suggests that many patients with schizophrenia were not receiving adequate treatment during the COVID-19 outbreak. A strategy should be developed to keep treating patients with schizophrenia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Analysis of the Efficacy of Universal Screening of Coronavirus Disease with Antigen-Detecting Rapid Diagnostic Tests at Point-or-Care Settings and Sharing the Experience of Admission Protocol-A Pilot Study.

Aims: To introduce the admission protocol of a COVID-19 specialized hospital outlined by the government, including the assessment of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), low dose chest computed tomography (CT) and antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic test (Ag-RDT) for patient screening. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of 646 patients who were admitted between December 2020, and February 2021, during the third wave of COVID-19 in Korea. Ag-RDT and RT-PCR were routinely performed on all patients who required admission, and low-dose chest CT was performed on high-risk patients with associated symptoms. Any patients with high-risk COVID-19 infection according to the Ag-RDT test were quarantined alone in a negative pressured room, and those with low-risk COVID-19 infection remained in the preemptive quarantine room with or without negative pressure. The diagnostic values of the Ag-RDT test and associated cycle threshold (Ct) values of the RT-PCR test were subsequently evaluated. Results: In terms of the diagnostic value, the Ag-RDT for COVID-19 had a sensitivity of 68.3%, specificity of 99.5%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 90.3%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 97.9%. For the 355 symptomatic patients with low-dose chest CT, the diagnostic values of combined evaluations had a sensitivity of 90.2%, specificity of 99.0%, PPV of 86.1%, and NPV of 99.3%. The cut-off Ct value for positive Ag-RDT was ≤25.67 for the N gene (sensitivity: 89.3%, specificity: 100%), which was regarded as a high viable virus in cell culture. There were no patients or medical staff who had COVID-19 in the hospital. Conclusion: Appropriate patient care was possible by definitive triage of the area, according to the symptoms and using diagnostic tests. Screening protocols, including the Ag-RDT test and low-dose chest CT, could be helpful in emergency point-of-care settings.

Effectiveness of wireless emergency alerts for social distancing against COVID-19 in Korea

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) on social distancing policy. The Republic of Korea has been providing information to the public through WEAs using mobile phones. This study used five data sets: WEA messages, news articles including the keyword “COVID-19,” the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients, public foot traffic data, and the government’s social distancing level. The WEAs were classified into two topics—“warning” and “guidance”—using a random forest model. The results of the correlation analysis and further detailed analysis confirmed that the “warning” WEA topic and number of news articles significantly affected public foot traffic. However, the “guidance” topic was not significantly associated with public foot traffic. In general, the Korean government’s WEAs were effective at encouraging the public to follow social distance recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the “warning” WEA topic, by providing information about the relative risk directly concerning the recipients, was significantly more effective than the “guidance” topic.

Association of Angiotensin Receptor Blockers With the Risk of COVID-19 in Korea

Association of Angiotensin Receptor Blockers With the Risk of COVID-19 in Korea

Discussion on the Users’ Personal Characteristics and the Operation of the Residential Treatment Center under the COVID-19 Pandemic Situation - Focusing on the Case of the Gyeonggi International 2 Residential Treatment Center

Korea faced an unprecedented crisis in infectious disease management system as the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Korea soared in March 2020. It was difficult not only for the confirmed patients but also for the seriously ill patients to be assigned beds, so the Residential Treatment Centers were introduced under the concept of isolating and treating asymptomatic or mild patients without treating them in hospitals or self-isolation. In this study, we examined user analysis, legal basis, and operational problems, focusing on the operation of the Gyeonggi International 2 Residential Treatment Center (hereinafter referred to as Ansan Residential Center), which quarantined and treated people diagnosed with COVID-19 from overseas. From March 26 to May 13, 2020, for 49 days, 115 confirmed patients with “COVID-19” who were hospitalized at Ansan Residential Treatment Center were analyzed for their general characteristics and medical records including length of stay and treatment results. Major results showed that 56 people were diagnosed with complete recovery in the Residential Treatment Center, 26 were moved to other Residential Treatment Centers on demand and 28 were taken to other hospitals due to worsening health conditions. The operational problems of Ansan Residential Treatment Center were the lack of operating principles, a lack of skilled medical personnel, a long-term delay in payment of allowances for working applicants and a lack of medical video-related facilities. Through this study, we found that Residential Treatment Center can be a positive factor that prevents the spread of COVID-19 in Korea, but we raise the need to comprehensively analyze the performance of the treatment in Residential Treatment Centers at the national level.

OTT Streaming Distribution Strategies for Dance Performances in the Post-COVID-19 Age: A Modified Importance-Performance Analysis.

The purpose of this study was to explore strategies for distributing online content of dance post COVID-19 in Korea. And specially to discuss the distribution strategies of online performances through videoization of dance performances and OTT (over-the-top) streaming: (1) Methods: For this purpose, a survey was conducted on the distribution strategy of dance online contents for a total of 100 practitioners such as dance field, video contents, and art management. A total 91 sample were used except for defective questionnaires, and Vavra (1997)’s modified important performance analysis was conducted; (2) Results: The results of the matrix through the modified IPA analysis are as follows: first, the first quadrant included ‘quality of dance performance’, ‘platform for OTT streaming’, and ‘promotion for potential audience development’. This means that both explicit and intrinsic importance are high, and it is an important execution factor that has a positive effect on the satisfaction of the online contents of dance only if it is met. Second, the second quadrant included ‘brand awareness of choreographer or dance company’, ‘creative composition and choreography’, and ‘fee and price criteria’. This is a case of low explicit importance but high intrinsic importance, and these factors are attractive attributes that affect the satisfaction of dance online contents, although consumers do not expect it to be important. Third, the third quadrant included ‘new formats and curation’, ‘convergence technology (AR, VR, 3D, etc.) for the field sense’, and ‘online audience service (communication, membership, etc.)’. This means that both explicit and intrinsic importance are low, and if these factors are met, it can have a positive effect on the satisfaction of viewing of dance online contents. However, it does not have a negative effect even if it is not met. Fourth, in the fourth quadrant, ‘production and editing competency’, ‘quality of videos and sounds’, ‘copyright of performance creation’, and ‘fandom and audience management’ was included. This is an essential attribute in the distribution strategy of dance online contents because it has high explicit importance and low intrinsic importance, and it can have a negative impact on satisfaction when these factors are not met.

Changes in Physical Activity Compared to the Situation before the Outbreak of COVID-19 in Korea.

The purpose of this study is to examine changes in physical activity in Korean society, after the outbreak of COVID-19. Method This study was conducted using the Korean Community Health Survey conducted in 2019 and 2020. Subjects that have been diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes were excluded; a total of 355,914 cases were involved for analysis. In terms of the analysis method, General Linear Model (GLM) was conducted to examine the changes in physical activities in 2019 and 2020 depending on the presence of a spouse, educational status, and economic activities. In addition, the GLM was adopted to divide the subjects by gender and age, and analyze their physical activity changes in 2019 and 2020 with spouse presence, educational status, and economic activities as adjusted variables. Result In terms of Koreans, those without a spouse, high educational attainment, and economically inactive were less engaged in physical activities. Differences were found in subjects regarding moderate-intensity physical activities after social distancing following the spread of COVID-19. Senior females without a spouse, both males and females with low educational attainment, economically inactive adult females, and economically active senior males showed a greater drop in physical activities. For walking hours, both adult males and females without a spouse, adult females with all educational attainment level excluding elementary and middle school graduates, and economically inactive adult males and females also showed a downward trend. Conclusion The study recommends that people develop a strategy to increase their post-outbreak physical activity, taking into account the sociodemographic.

The detection of the epidemic phase of COVID-19 and the timing of social distancing policies in Korea

ObjectivesObserving cumulative and new daily confirmed cases of COVID-19, disease control authorities respond to a surge in cases with social distancing measures or economic lockdown. The question in this article is whether we can gather more useful information from a readily available time series data set of day-to-day changes in confirmed cases of COVID-19. Study designTime-series data analysis was done using a hidden Markov model. MethodsDay-to-day differences in confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Korea from February 19, 2020, to July 13, 2021, were modeled via a hidden Markov model. The results from the model were compared with the effective reproduction number and the Korean government's response. ResultsThe model reports that Korea was in an epidemic phase from August 2020 and from mid-November 2020, the second and third epidemic waves. The government's response, represented by the Government Response Stringency Index, was not timely during the epidemic phases. The results from the model may also be more helpful to detect the onset of the epidemic phase of an infectious disease than the effective reproduction number. ConclusionsThe model can reveal a hidden epidemic phase and help disease control authorities to respond more promptly and effectively.

Promissory shock, broken future: COVID-19 and state-led speculations in biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in South Korea

This research examines institutional responses to shocking events, in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. I argue that our analysis should consider state-led nationalism in finance and financialization especially when new modes of financial accumulation can be correlated with state projects of crisis management. Also, in dealing with shocking events, which are an inevitable aspect of capitalism, I claim nationalistic deregulations and speculation stimulated by institutional discourse can put ordinary people into permanently unpayable debt and reshape social exclusion. Drawing from interpretative policy analysis, I examine how early COVID-19 management by the Korean government took advantage of sloganeering of upper-K words, initiated by the Korean Wave, as discursive tools in invoking nationalistic sentiments. The instutional nationalism in the upper-case K as prefix is examined in promoting Korean biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and their stocks. Further, I demonstrate how the accumulation strategies of this nationalistic COVID-19 management regarding bio and pharma industries were already practiced before COVID-19 in Korea, by the regulatory sandbox policy along with the Korean legitimation crisis. This set of practices has eventually accelerated the financialization of everyday life and Othering. I call for a critical lens to analyze the pressing agenda of discursive practices in institutional crisis responses.

Trend Analysis of Studies on Nurses related to COVID-19 in Korea

본 연구는 국내 간호사를 대상으로 COVID-19 관련한 연구의 동향을 파악하기 위한 것으로 근거기반 간호인력 관리를 위한 기초자료를 제공하고자 시도되었다. 문헌고찰 연구로 국내 6개 데이터베이스를 기반으로‘간호’ AND ‘COVID or 코로나’를 검색어로 하고, 검색기간은 시작시점 제한 없이 2021년 6월 17일까지로 하였다, 총 182편의 자료 중 본 연구의 요건을 충족한 24편의 연구를 최종 분석하였다. 전체 논문의 83.3%가 질적 연구이었고, 대상자의 83.3%는 일반 간호사이었다. COVID-19 환자 간호를 경험한 간호사만을 연구 대상자로 하여 진행된 논문이 41%이었고, 9편(37.5%)의 연구만이 COVID-19 감염관리 교육을 받았는지 조사하였고 교육을 받은 간호사는 37.5%이었다. 양적 연구에서 가장 많이 다루어진 개념은 직무 스트레스(25.0%)와 피로(25.0%)였고, 다양한 윤리적 개념들이 다루어졌다. 예측요인을 규명하는 연구의 종속변수 중 가장 많은 개념은 간호의도이었다. 본 결과를 통해 간호사들의 COVID-19 관련 특성 조사가 미흡하였고 간호사들의 경험을 규명하기 위한 질적 연구가 더 필요함을 알 수 있었다.The purpose of this study was to explore and identify the trends in COVID-19 related studies with hospital nurses in South Korea, and to provide basic data for providing the evidence for nursing staff management on COVID-19. This study used a systematic review methodology to analyse the included studies. Six databases (RISS, KCI, KISS, e-article, DBpia and NAL) were searched and search terms were ‘nursing’ and (‘corona’ or ‘COVID’) in Korean language. The start time of the paper s publication year was not limited and included the entire paper published until 17 June 2021. 182 papers were screened. Based on inclusion criteria, this literature review included twenty four studies. 83.3% of research design were identified as quantitative research. 83.8% of the studies’ subjects were staff nurses. The study, in which all of the subjects participated in caring of COVID-19 patients, accounted for 41% of the papers. 37.5% of the studies dealt with the education of COVID-19 infection control. The most frequently dealt with concepts were job stress(25.0%) and fatigue(25.0%) in quantitative studies and many concepts related to nursing ethics tended to be addressed. Nursing intention has been most frequently dealt with dependent variable of predictive studies. The findings from this review was showed that the investigation of COVID-19 related characteristics with hospital nurses was insufficient and qualitative research will be needed to explore the living experiences of nurses.

A silver lining of tourism stagnation

• Uses the panel data before, during and after the first wave of COVID-19 in Korea. • Investigates browsing behavior across global and domestic travel mobile apps. • Offers implications for travel businesses for recovery from the COVID-19 recession.

A Constitutional Overview of Information and Telecommunication in Post COVID-19 in Korea

첨단과학기술사회에서 국가는 일정한 역할을 하여야 하며 이는 규범적인 면에서는 궁극적으로 헌법적 문제로 귀결될 것이다. 그러한 과학기술 중 오늘날 가장 주목받는 것 중 하나가 바로 정보통신이며 정보통신에 대한 헌법적 대응은 오늘날 헌법학의 주요 과제 중 하나이다. 한편 코로나19 팬데믹은 사회적으로 여러 가지 변화상을 만들었고 그 과정에서 나타난 정보통신의 여러 가지 이슈들은 정보통신의 의미와 과제, 그리고 헌법과의 관계를 다시 한번 생각하도록 하는 계기가 되었다. 이 글에서는 정보통신과 헌법의 기본적인 관계를 확인하고 코로나19 팬데믹을 통하여 알 수 있는 정보통신의 현재와 미래를 살펴보면서 포스트 코로나 시대에 정보통신에 관하여 헌법적 대응이 요구되는 바가 무엇이고 그 방향은 어떠하여야 하는지를 논한다. 코로나19 팬데믹에서 정보통신은 감염병 대응을 위한 효과적인 수단을 제공하였지만 그 과정에서 기본권 침해 문제가 대두되었으며 정보격차 문제에 대한 재조명이 있었고 허위정보의 유통도 문제가 되었다는 점을 확인할 수 있다. 또한 코로나19 팬데믹은 디지털 전환을 가속화하여 뉴노멀 시대의 도래를 이끌어낼 것이라는 전망이 우세하다. 코로나19 팬데믹에서 나타난 이와 같은 정보통신 관련 현상들을 고려하여 포스트 코로나 시대의 정보통신에 대한 헌법적 대응으로서 정보기본권의 보장, 정보격차 해소 및 정보통신기반 구축, 안전한 정보통신환경 조성 등이 요구된다. 이러한 사항들에 대한 헌법적 대응을 통하여 개인의 권리를 보장하고 보편적인 정보통신의 활용 여건을 발전시킬 수 있도록 하여야 한다. 오늘날 정보통신은 이미 중요한 사회적 토대가 되었고 이러한 현상은 향후 더욱 심화될 것이다. 현행 헌법의 해석론을 발전시키고 향후 헌법개정시 정보통신에 관한 헌법적 가치를 실질적으로 반영하고 조문화하여 표현하는 구체적 방안에 대한 논의가 다양하게 이루어지는 것이 바람직하다.A state must perform it’s role in a high technology society, and it will ultimately be constitutional issues. Information and telecommunication is one of the most noticeable things among such matters. and the response to social changes by information and telecommunication is an important issus of constitutional studies. COVID-19 pandemic has made many social changes and they include various issues related to information and telecommunication. It makes an opportunity to recognize importance and of information and telecommunication and relationship between it and constitution. This paper checks the relationship between information and telecommunication and constitution and review it in COVID-19 pandemic. And then it is discussesed what is required and how it will be done for constitutional response in post COVID-19 in this paper. In COVID-19 pandemic, information and telecommunication provides effective means for responding to the infectious disease, but some problems are founded in the process. They are the violation of fundamental rights, digital divide and misinformation. In addition, the pandemic accelerates the digital transformation and it will lead the new normal. As constitutional response to information and telecommunication in the post COVID-19, it is required to protect fundamental rights on information, to get rid of digital divide, to establish an information and telecommunication infrastructure and to make safe environment for information and telecommunication. These response should ensure the rights of individuals and develop the conditions for universal use of information and telecommunication. Today, information and telecommunication has already become an important social basis, and it will intensify in the future. It is desirable to variously discuss the way to develop interpretation of the current constitution and to codify the constitutional values of information and telecommunication when Korean constitution will be revised in the future.

Yunjong Wang Comments on COVID-19 in Korea: Success Based on Past Failure

Yunjong Wang Comments on COVID-19 in Korea: Success Based on Past Failure