The sociopolitical context of the COVID-19 response in South Korea

The existing reports tend to portray the effective interventions and policies as if they operate independently of the surrounding political and social processes. As a result, these reports have limited insights and public health value for diverse health system contexts, especially more resource-constrained settings. In times of a global pandemic of an unprecedented scale that has shaken the human societies as profoundly as COVID-19 has, it is urgent for us to collectively challenge ourselves to think beyond the business-as-usual mode and to imagine new approaches and collaborations for pandemic preparedness over the long term. Situating the lessons from COVID-19 control efforts within a specific sociopolitical context is necessary to maximise insights on how specific public health programmes and policies may work in specific contexts. To illustrate this, I highlight the key systems-level features underlying South Korea's response to COVID-19, including the role of public investment and trust, and of democracy, equity and solidarity, in response to disease outbreaks and the overall resilience of the health system.