South Korea’s fast response to coronavirus disease: implications on public policy and public management theory

The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in South Korea was identified on 20 January 2020. South Korea’s blended response of quick action and technological innovations has proven effective in containing the COVID-19 outbreak and can offer lessons for other countries. This paper presents a review of the administrative and legal measures taken by the Korean government, a discussion on the lessons learned from previous epidemics and disasters, and an overview of the government’s agile testing and containment strategies. The paper ends with a discussion on the implications of Korea’s responses to public policy and public management theory.