Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- The governor of South Korea's southern resort island Jeju sued a 19-year-old student studying in the United States and her mother for damages, accusing them of making a five-day free journey despite symptoms of a new coronavirus. The two have been the target of widespread public rebuke for their inconsiderate act.

It marked the first COVID-related lawsuit against any individuals since South Korea was hit by an epidemic in January. South Korea has been relatively lenient to quarantine rule violators, with law enforcement authorities and health officials refraining from legal action in individual cases.

The student came back on March 15 and made a five-day trip to Jeju with her mother from March 20, although those who arrived from abroad were advised to stay in their homes and watch their health condition. The two tested positive for COVID-19, a day after they returned to their home in Seoul.

Even though the two showed symptoms from the first day of their trip to the resort island, they've visited as many as 20 places, forcing shops to shut down and sending 90 people going into self-quarantine, Jeju governor Won Hee-ryong said on Monday after filed a compensation suit with at a district court.

Won, joined by two shops and two residents in Jeju, called for a total of 132 million won ($107,843) in compensation.

"There should be no free ride based on the medical team's struggle, efforts by quarantine officials and the public's efforts to distance themselves from society. We want to raise a strong alarm through this lawsuit," the governor said.

As of March 29, 4,275 patients remain hospitalized while 5,228 others have been cured and discharged from isolation wards. The epidemic has killed 158 people.

From April 1, South Korea will enforce a two-week mandatory quarantine for all entrants from overseas, but the medical association argued that the government takes things easy. The epidemic showed signs of subsiding from its peak in mid-February, but Incheon International Airport, South Korea's gateway west of Seoul, has become a new hotbed of infections. Nearly 40 percent of new infections have been directly and indirectly related to those coming from abroad.