President Moon Jae-in on February 13 predicted the Covid-19 epidemic would "soon disappear", but he probably did not expect the virus to be quietly spreading in a cult.

With nearly 3,000 nCoV infections and 16 deaths, South Korea has now become the world's second largest Covid-19 outbreak after mainland China. The number of cases is expected to increase as health officials begin testing more than 210,000 members of Tan Thien Dia, a cult of "Patient 31", a female devotee believed to have transmitted the virus to dozens of others.

The epidemic spread quickly, causing South Korean President Moon Jae-in to suffer a wave of outrage from the public, as well as a series of criticisms from political opponents. Opposition vowed to make Moon's "incompetence" a top issue in parliamentary elections on April 15. More than one million Koreans also signed online petitions demanding the recall of the president.

"If the disease is not curbed early, it could cause disaster for the ruling party in the upcoming election," said Ahn Byong-jin, an expert at Kyung Hee University in Seoul. "The current leadership is still in charge of making an action plan, as well as how to connect people between the epidemic."

However, the Korean government appears to be in a tight spot, when the disease starts in China, its largest trading partner. Although 40 countries, including the United States and North Korea, have restricted or banned entry from people from mainland China, South Korea is still hesitant to make similar decisions. They only banned entry with people from Hubei province, where the Covid-19 epidemic broke out.

For Moon's administration, the ban on entry "did not bring practical benefits". But in the opinion of critics, if this measure is not applied, nCoV will be more and more widespread, while also narrowing the opportunity to boost the economy which is suffering from the sharp decline in trade with China.

On February 26, Chosun Ilbo, a conservative paper in South Korea, warned not to ban people from China while fighting the epidemic "is like trying to catch mosquitoes but leaving windows open".

However, Kang Min-seok, Moon's spokesman, noted that no mainland Chinese passengers have been positive for nCoV since South Korea tightened its screening of Chinese guests on February 4, added that the number of new infections in China outside of Hubei is increasingly low.

Moon's political opponents have long accused the president of supporting China, or fearing to "upset" President Xi Jinping. On February 20, during a phone call with Xi, Moon said that "China's difficulties are also our problems".

South Korea has donated a large number of medical supplies to China, including 2 million regular masks, one million medical masks, 100,000 protective suits and 100,000 protective goggles. The Korean opposition, meanwhile, criticized the government for not providing enough masks to its own citizens.

Some initial decisions of the Moon administration in the prevention of nCoV were also condemned. Members of the Tan Thien Den sect in Daegu city, the current Covid-19 epidemic in South Korea, began to show symptoms around February 7-10, a few days before Mr. Moon said the bad thing. most have passed.

However, they continued to attend Sunday ceremonies, where hundreds of devotees prayed and sang loudly in tight spaces, causing the virus to quickly spread. At that time, the government repeatedly assured the people that they did not need to cancel the crowded gatherings. Lee In-young, a member of the parliamentary majority, called for "quick return to daily life".

Even when Mr. Moon declared the situation "stable" on February 13, Jung Eun-kyeong, director of the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), still warned of the comment. " too early, "because the number of patients in China hasn't dropped sharply yet. "We must remain vigilant," she stressed.

The turning point that made the government's optimism seem to disappear on February 18, when "Patient 31", 61-year-old Tan Thien Dia's believers, was positive for nCoV. Since then, the number of cases has been constantly increasing, sometimes doubling or tripling in just one day.

In 2015, when the MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) epidemic struck South Korea, Moon, then the opposition leader, called the crisis "a disaster caused by the incompetent government that Ms. Park Geun -hye leadership cause ". "The government has turned into a super-infectious subject," he said.

South Korea's president came to power after his predecessor Park Geun-hye was ousted by a mistake in handling crises, such as the sinking of the Sewol ferry, which angered the public.

According to commentator Choe Sang-hun of NY Times, the series of obstacles in Covid-19 is a rather ironic reversal for Mr. Moon.

South Korea curbed the MERS epidemic after 186 people became infected and 38 died. From the lessons learned, health officials of this country actively monitored and isolated patients when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, testing more than 10,000 people every day.

The sharp increase in the number of nCoV infections in Korea in recent days is due in part to that discovery effort. The government also released the data very quickly, via smartphone apps, to provide real-time updates to residents about where the patients had been, sending notifications if they approached that place.

Although the mortality rate is lower than MERS, the Covid-19 epidemic seems to be much more contagious. The spread of nCoV across the country has left South Koreans questioning Moon's anti-epidemic strategy, largely based on community cooperation and awareness.

While the South Korean government actively warns people to take precautions such as wearing masks and washing their hands, they still try to maintain economic activity as much as possible. In addition, the pursuit of tough measures also carries political risks.

When the government tried to ban protests for public health concerns, marchers accused it of political repression. The plan to "blockade" the city of Daegu and surrounding areas was also seen by many conservative politicians as a move to encircle the country's own regions, while unable to turn away from China.

The political "blows" occurred quickly, forcing Moon's administration to abandon the entire blockade plan. Hong Ihk-pyo, a spokesman for the Democratic Party, who announced the Daegu blockade plan, resigned.

The rage of South Koreans continued to grow this week as some Chinese cities began quarantining South Korean visitors on entry, while their government did not apply the same measure to Chinese visitors. An online petition asking the Blue House to ban Chinese guests has received more than 760,000 signatures.

Many Koreans also concentrated on venting their anger on the New Heavenly Sect. These sectarian activities, such as sitting close together on the floor during ceremonies and actively evangelizing, are thought to be a factor in the spread of the disease. 920,000 people signed a petition asking the government to dismiss the cult.

Moon called on the people to unite, adding that the coming days are an "important stage" in determining the virus spread in the country. However, some accuse the government of trying to blame the New Heavenly sect, while its followers are also victims of the plague.

"What we see so far is the complete failure of the epidemic system. The biggest reason is that the government has ignored the very basic disease control rule: prevent the source of infection," Choi said. Dae-zip, president of the Korean Medical Association, mentioned that the Moon administration does not ban Chinese guests.