CSA Webinar Explores South Korea’s COVID Response
On October 20, 2020, the Center for the Study of Asia (CSA), an affiliated regional center at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University (BU), hosted a webinar exploring the response to COVID-19 in South Korea and the roll of public-private partnerships in that response.
The event featured June Park – East Asia Voices Initiative Fellow of the East Asia National Resources Center at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs and Next Generation Researcher at the National Research Foundation of Korea – and was moderated by William Grimes, Professor of International Relations and of Political Science and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Pardee School.
During the event, Park presented the findings of her latest publication in World Development, “Learning from past pandemic governance: Early response and Public-Private Partnerships in testing of COVID-19 in South Korea.” The publication offers a theoretical framework of policy implementation that combines collaboration between public and private sectors to efficiently deal with urgent crises such as COVID-19.
During her remarks, Park explained how political elites can learn from the past to enhance sustainability of their leadership in a pandemic situation, South Korea’s large-scale COVID-19 testing work, and what the role of the South Korean in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) industry was in response to the pandemic.
A recording of the event is available below.
Boston University’s Center for the Study of Asia, established in 2008, promotes comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and cross-national understanding of Asia through coordination of teaching missions, research support, community-building among faculty and students, and broad outreach beyond the university. It strives to be an intellectual hub for new ideas and cutting edge research in the humanities and social sciences. Learn more about this center on the CSA website.