Seoul gives hope on lockdown exit

Many nations looking for the best way to end a coronavirus shutdown watched in awe on Wednesday as millions of South Koreans ventured outside and voted. The casting of ballots was the world’s first national-level election since the virus outbreak was declared a global pandemic.

The election was a model of how to safely run the voting process — even those in mandatory quarantine were given special protection at the 14,000 voting stations. Korean voters felt safe enough for more than twothirds to turn out, the highest rate in 28 years.

On a grander scale the election demonstrated that an ideal exit strategy from the crisis does exist — if countries are open and smart about discovering it. Leaders everywhere are searching for the right path to end lockdowns, social distancing, school closures and similar impositions on daily life. “These are unprecedented times, and so we need to think on a scale that would previously be considered unimaginable,” Natalie Dean, an assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida, told The New York Times.

South Korea was so rigorous in safeguarding the election that President Moon Jae-in said the country “will be able to give hope to the world that we can resume a normal life”. Several world leaders, in fact, did praise the country for the way it conducted the vote. Moon and his governing Democratic Party (DP) were rewarded at the polls for their success. The DP and its sister party won three-fifths of the seats in the national assembly.

A few other countries, such as Germany and Denmark, are skillfully — if gingerly — reopening their societies. They are not hoping for the best. They are relying on the best in society to build up trust among the public. The trust, at least in South Korea, is that an exit plan is both possible and near. /Boston, April 16