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South Korean authorities are fighting to contain a new coronavirus outbreak related to the capital’s nightclub district as the reaction against the country’s gay community grows, raising fears that LGBT people will not take over. the test for fear of being discovered.
South Korea has been praised for its innovative efforts to contain the pandemic, moving from the second most infected region outside of China to having a handful of cases before the latest outbreak a week ago.
But the growing number of nightclub-related cases in Seoul is raising concerns about a possible second wave, as well as the high level of deep-seated homophobic attitudes in conservative society.
Of the 35 new cases, 29 were found to be linked to Itaewon, the capital’s gay district, according to officials from the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), bringing the total number of cases related to clubs to 86.
After Kookmin Ilbo, a local media outlet with links to an evangelical church, reported that the companies visited by an infected man over the long weekend were gay clubs, many other South Korean media did the same, revealing not just the identity. of the clientele but also some of their ages and the names of their workplaces.
The media frenzy reached a new level when another infected man was discovered to have been in an LGBT sauna in Gangnam, sparking a plethora of homophobic content in the newspapers and online.
The creepy reports, coupled with South Korea’s use of the trace-and-test method, have led members of the gay community to feel scared of being tested and even committing suicide. Authorities said 3,112 people who were in the nightclubs were currently not contactable.
“I admit that it was a big mistake to visit the gay district when the crown situation was not completely over,” Lee Youngwu, a gay man in his 30s, told the Guardian. “But visiting the area is the only time I can be myself and go out with others similar to me. During the week, I have to pretend that I like women.
“My credit card company told me that they transmitted my payment information in the district to the authorities. I feel so trapped and hunted. If I get tested, chances are my company will find out I’m gay. I will lose my job and face public humiliation. I feel like my whole life is about to collapse. I had never felt suicidal before and I never thought I would, but now I feel suicidal. “
On Saturday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun urged the public to “refrain from criticizing a certain community as it will not help efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.”
Lee Jong-geol, chief executive of the Korean gay men’s human rights group Chingusai, told The Guardian that the group had begun providing legal advisory and assistance services to those affected by the crisis, adding that officials from The city of Seoul asked the group to encourage gay men who had visited the clubs to appear for the test.
“I understand that public officials want to find a convenient way to do their job, but they must realize that gay people in South Korea do not belong to a single group. Public officials are handling the situation in the same way as Shincheonji cult status, but we are not a sect. “
Lee Jae-myung, governor of Gyeonggi province near Seoul, where many of the infected people live, said that it would be possible for people to be tested for free just by saying they had been in the outbreak area and that they did not have to mention the names. of the companies they visited.
“It took me a whole week to gather the courage to get tested,” Min Jaeyoung, 27, told the Guardian, “I had to practice saying ‘oh, of course I’m not gay’ and I even recorded myself several times for Suena. natural. I even put pictures of Korean footballers and hip-hop artists on my [social media accounts] to try to look straight I even prepared to look for another job. As it turned out, I was not infected, but I cried when I received that text message not because I was happy that I was not infected but because I really hate being a gay man in this country. “
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said on Monday that while he would guarantee anonymity when people get tested, there would be a fine of 2 million Korean won (£ 1,320) for those who didn’t get tested. He also said that anyone who does not show up will be visited at his home by officials accompanied by the police.
