South Korea Wants to Show the World How to Tackle the Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) --

South Korea has been praised for its effective response to the coronavirus pandemic. Now it wants to share its lessons with the world.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in suggested that U.S. President Donald Trump hold a G-20 teleconference summit to discuss how South Korea worked to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, a statement from Moon’s office said.

The country was testing people for the virus at the fastest pace in the world, which appears to have allowed early detection of cases, keeping its mortality rate lower than average.

At the proposed meeting with world leaders, South Korea plans to share information on its “experience on tackling” the nationwide spread of the novel coronavirus, results on clinical tests, as well as discussing response measures of the outbreak on the global economy, according to the statement.

Moon’s national security advisor Chung Eui-yong asked his U.S. counterpart Robert O’Brien in a phone call on Sunday to deliver the proposal, the statement said, adding that O’Brien said Trump would “actively consider” the idea.

This isn’t the first time South Korea has suggested the idea. Moon said he would discuss the approach in a call last week with French President Emmanuel Macron.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Niluksi Koswanage at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net, Siraj Datoo, Shamim Adam

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