Methods have raised privacy and public shaming concerns and now there are reports that the virus is back again my guest this week a south Korean Foreign minister can kill why has her government made too many compromises on citizens privacy in its efforts to contain the pen damage and how could the Public Health crisis impact diplomacy in the region and beyond especially with its Nuclear Neighbor to the north. Foreign minister contra wa welcome to conflict zone. Thank you for having me. Your country has reported a flare up in corona virus cases this week around the capital at a number of nightclubs which authorities are now temporarily closing president move has warned the 2nd wave is coming whether now or in the future this at a time when you were just starting to ease some pent demick restrictions how concerned is your government over the threat of a 2nd outbreak. Very concerned but we have been guarding against this possibility this virus is very tricky its it spreads very careful very split fast and its spread silently asymptomatic people can be can be contagious so weve been guarding against this possibility its very unfortunate that this happened but our system is now fully up and running to trace to test and of course to treat the confirmed patients this is a population that we have been concerned about all along you know young people night time clubs where lots of people gather and evidently where the sanitary rules were not strictly abided by they were instructed to keep a close list of all the visitors to take all precautions but it turns out that these measures werent here to and now we are dealing with a Huge Population that need to be traced and tested so given that i mean you initially managed to come to grips with the pandemic through without any extensive long downs we have to see which we saw elsewhere you said in a recent interview that you didnt think the idea of a lockdown or a blockade would be acceptable to your public that this idea mandatory would really be contradict contradictory to the principle of openness do you think that you might have to rethink that policy in the face of a 2nd wave well i think this the measures that we have taken in the in the immediate aftermath of this outbreak is closure of these entertainment facilities and these are by city administrative decree here in seoul in other big cities as well so it is a temporarily shutdown of these entertainment establishing this it is not a wholesale lockdown of businesses and i dont think well ever get to that point. We are racing against time in tracking down all the close contacts of people who have been to these establishments during this particular period which was a long holiday just before we were hoping to go to. In an easier form of social distancing and we have gone into that for the rest of society what we call distancing in every day life and this is this means that were we realize that we will never be able to go back to life pre that 19 we have to live with this risk and be prepared when it raises its head again obviously this time it has raised its head in big numbers but i think we are prepared and we are we are doing our very best to contain this outbreak lets talk a little bit more about some of the measures that your public is also living with the recent flare up in cases its further highlighted some glaring privacy issues with the track and trace methods that youre using to contain the pandemic on the details are being released to the public or peoples whereabouts their identities are being revealed and id like to bring up this example because its been reported that one of the recent coronavirus cases was a man who attended clubs in seouls gay district now Rights Groups fear that you know efforts are going to be made to forcibly out gay people who came in contact with him does it highlight a major failure in privacy protections. I think the issue of privacy has been taken out of context our the issue of privacy is with certainly the patients and i think we do this by law privacy is a very important human rights but it is not an absolute right i think the i. C. C. P. R. Makes this very clear that it can be restricted but it has to be in accordance with the law we have a very robust legal system in place where it is clearly identified as to where these rights might be restored that and when you balance the privacy of the patients against the publics need to be protected from this race i think the answer is very clear so the so album is so its so you go for you you do it by law its ok for you that some social media users theyve already posted video footage of some of the gay bars and clubs urging followers for donations to quote help put a stop to these disgusting going on thats an acceptable practice it is not ok it is not ok i think that discrimination prejudice against people for who they are is unacceptable for a country that is committed on the fundamental values of human rights that undergirds of democracy it is not acceptable but i think we have in and this is what the government is guarding against that you know this we dont have a consensus on the rights of the sexual minorities and people with various gender identities we dont have a consensus we have knowledge that but the changes take overt take time and i think pushing for changes to premier truly can create a backlash that is even more harmful but here we are we are faced with the challenge and the government response is very careful about not aggravating those existing prejudices and were hoping that through this experience we will dispelled a lot of the project. And discrimination that. Sexual minorities are faced with. Going to clubs is not just people with different sexual life it is everybody going to these clubs were tracking down everybody that have been told in the Club Activities during this holiday time that its its not just clubs its not just the communities i mean i like to just ask you about the environment that this is creating in your society because a recent study found that citizens are more afraid of being socially state shamed for example for having or spreading the virus than they are of the disease itself so what does that say about the environment that these measures have created in society right now. I think our measures have been open more open then many of the measures that other societies have taken obviously in this situation of crisis people have. Stress issues to deal with there is a psychological element that this crisis has created that all societies have have to face we are trying to face that with the best of our expertise in terms of the psychological counseling that we provide to our citizens and anybody who is in need we have a system obviously not be enough but i think we have we have a system and we are dealing with it and i think its this is a challenge not just for us but for all countries and i think the this the 19 has also made clear that you know there are there are hidden spots blind spots in society that are revealed when a crisis comes along like this you know that that we have some of our dark spots as well for example and youll address Something Like 400000 yes yes we are you know this is not just governments that 1st solo because there is a limitation as to how far the governments efforts can reach we enlisted great deal of support from our Civil Society groups who are helping for example undocumented workers who are helping the sexual minority groups as well were enlisting their help so that people can come forward feeling safe to undergo testing entry ok so we talked about Democratic Values we talked about the balance between privacy and Public Health and as youve articulated there id like to speak now about the dictatorship to the north 1st of all in the past weeks a lot of speculation about leader kim jong uns health recently your intelligence has said that there were no signs that he had surgery how sick was he or or easy. Well you know our intelligence is robust and we share and analyze a great deal together with our ally the United States and all indications we have is that there is no unusual activity whether its its his health or our or our the society as a whole obviously there is a limitation because its a closed society and information is very difficult to garner but to the extent that we know there are you know we dont detect any unusual developments its a closed society that your administration has been has been making major efforts to crack open since president took office in 2017 your government has stressed improving ties with the north in the hopes of promoting peace on the peninsula but but youve been criticized over not putting human rights high enough up on the agenda for example you dropped the traditional cosponsoring of a resolution condemning north koreas horrific rights record at the u. N. General assembly this past fall president mood also did not bring up human rights in a meeting with kim jong un last year have you sacrificed calls to improve human rights in order to keep the dialogue going i think keeping the dialogue going is extremely important if we are going to find a peaceful resolution with the north Korean Nuclear and missiles issue and getting us on track towards creating lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula human rights is a very big issue when it comes to north korea and we support the International Efforts the u. N. Efforts in this regard obviously to keep the in gateman going we have to balance everything and its a decision. Given all the consideration the judgments that we make we do not its not that we dont consider a human rights issue of north korea any less but the in the tactics and the strategy in promoting the engagement with north korea. Has to weigh all factors and proceed but theres a Critical Mass of criticism i just like to highlight a couple of them because the United Nations special rubber tour and human rights in north korea has said the following integrating fundamental human rights into the current goshi actions is crucial crucial for this is seen ability of any agreement for denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula and beyond can you really wait to talk tough on human rights with north korea i mean doesnt that undermine the legitimacy of your efforts i dont think so i think human rights has a place and i think the human rights mechanisms of the United States the United Nations plays a very Important Role in keeping the. Track but there is a another attracting gauge went with north korea which is the peace and security track and that some point they have to come together but at this time we are judgment is that the security track has to take precedence. Youve also been heavily criticized as you are prioritizing that security track of turning a blind eye in another way back in november your country deported 2 fishermen accused of murder back to north korea the u. N. They get expressing deep concern that quote the decision was made potentially without due process and that the 2 men are at risk of serious Human Rights Violations upon return and they just highlight a couple including inforce disappearance arbitrary execution torture or ill treatment trials that do not conform to International Fair trial standards they say that your government could have failed to uphold International Human rights obligations itself do you regret that deportation decision. No not at all i think we made the best decision under the circumstances and given that there was no genuine this to the 2 mens. Desire to come to this part of the peninsula and given that i did you determine our selves have. Well there is a we have a we have a pro sea process run by our National Security office and all the ministries are involved and the collective decision was that they pose a danger to our society and that so therefore the decision was made. Doesnt really come down to the fact that you are afraid that any position that you that you take on human rights will simply blow up talks with the north we are not afraid we are we are. Very actively seeking the engagement taking all the elements into consideration but i think even the human rights mechanisms would say that it is very important to keep that engagement going ok. Id also like to talk about the circumstances currently in the north i mean we highlighted a number of the dire circumstances when it came to the case of those 2 fishermen and we also have signs of deterioration there the country has had a poor harvest season now with coronavirus they are destabilizing factors both economically potentially on the health front as well how concerned are you that the north with its strongman policy will lash out and deflects from the interior issues that it has in the country. Well you watch very carefully i think you know the official position is that there is no case of coronary virus but they report to the w. H. O. Quarantine people and testing so we take their official position with a lot of grain of salt the Health Structure there is extremely weak we have offered to collaborate on those fronts we have not received a response yet but i would be cautious as to make sweeping judgments about what the situation there overall is but are you preparing for the potential of increased provocations when they have provoked there has been a series of short range launches and you know these are certainly unhelpful and we have urged them to stop this at a time when the whole world is trying to come to grips with this this very unprecedented Health Crisis but we watch very closely and we are prepared and i think based upon our very robust defense posture and readiness based upon our strong us are ok Security Alliance lets talk a little more about that alliance and your readiness to face any potential threat from the north youve mentioned that theyve already provoked. You have actually been trimming back on some joint military exercises in an effort to engage the kim regime in dialogue the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has said the following about that paring back canceling crucial exercises detracts from seouls very ability to manage the threatening neighbor it has been engaging with by downgrading south koreas military readiness and compromising its ability to conduct operations with u. S. Forces arent you concerned that you might not be right if kim washes out. I have full confidence in our military authorities in collaboration with the u. S. Military authorities to keep up that robust preparedness this fight the. Struction of the exercises you know the that is done to support the diplomatic track certainly but all the while making sure that the preparedness is not in any way undermined but it doesnt help certainly that your relations with the United States are not as good as they once were youre currently at odds over the defense cost sharing the u. S. Has rejected your offer of a 13 percent increase in spending and instead is demanding a 5 fold increase how do you want to come to an agreement and what happens if you dont difficult i admit but you know this is an alliance thats developed over a 67 years there have been difficult issues in the past that weve been able to work through you know a line a lot allies have to francis and i think the special measures agreement this time is particularly difficult but we are both determined to find an agreement that we both can agree to obviously it will take more time and more effort but we are you know im there confident that we will reach an agreement eventually trumpets of the following its a question of whether south korea will contribute toward the defense of their own nation we are defending nations that are very wealthy south korea is a very wealthy nation does he have a point. We are increasingly wealthy which is why our share of the stationing of the troops have have increased over the years initially the initial agreement is that we will provide the land and the facilities and the us will provide for the expenses of the troop stationing now as korea developed and became more wealthy we have agreed to a special measures agreement which is which is the title of this this agreement and increasingly more more of that share. And with that shared that increase has to be incremental it can be 30 percent 50 percent over one year period there is a Methodology Since then there is a budgetary system that our government has to follow and in the end this has to go through the National Assembly for approvals so there are all these parameters that we as government needs to meet while negotiating with the United States and i think our partners across the table from the United States are fully aware of this and as youre sorting those the through those parameters we have the u. S. President nominated one opportunity to say what a great relationship he has with the north Korean Leader kim jong un and what a nice guy he is trump has said the following we fell in love no really he wrote me beautiful letters are you concerned that trump is speaking in such high terms about the dictator to the north and not about the democratically elected president of south korea i mean youre a longtime allies. Well you keep saying consider were not concerned i think the relations between our 2 governments at all levels between the president s between myself and the secretary of state is very strong very tight and i think that in particular during this 1000 crisis the collaboration has been exemplary so im not concerned i think thats president trumps unique way of messaging and it also indicates his clear desire to continue to jab at that level they engage with north korea this time around has been driven very much by that top level political will both on the side of the United States and also to a certain extent on the part of our side as well so its very important to keep that high level political will going for the continued engagement what are the options you have if if if if that you know if that alliance breaks down i mean have you become too reliant on the u. S. Nuclear shield that they provide i am not at all concerned about i dont think thats up thats the scenario that we anticipate i think with the alliance is very strong the u. S. Is fully committed to this the security of the current south korea and the the extension of their nuclear shield so i dont know where you get that the possibility of that happening i dont see that possibility lets talk about china because in the meantime china has been using the Coronavirus Crisis as an opportunity to assert itself in the region theres been an arrest the arrest rather of democracy activists in hong kong military pressure being put on taiwan and its neighbors in the South China Sea even going so far as to sink a vietnamese fishing vessel it looks like china is using the coronavirus pandemic as a Regional Power grab all other major powers are busy at home surely that must raise red flags for you. Well china and the we have are we had our difficult time in 20162017. Post my president s visit in december 27000 i think we are largely recovering there close economic and people to people tice as far as the current 1000 virus is concerned it 1st happened in china and we were one of the 1st to be hit because we have lots of people traveling back and forth china and i think their collaboration on the 1000 has been has been very good we press for quick and prompt sharing of information we underscore the importance of that and we demonstrate that with our own actions and we urge that on the part of china as well we have economies under pressure right now amid this pandemic Citizens Health at stake what do you think your part of the world will look like after this pandemic ends i think post coral virus the world will certainly be different from pre cove at 19 i think all economies have been severely hit by this. We are rolling out domestic economic stimulus packages for or for our Strategic Industries for our small and medium businesses for furloughed workers for for households but that can only go to a certain extent we are very dependent on. Our trade our investment ties with overseas so we very much hope that that also recovers and we cant do that by ourselves so i hope do i hope that our partners will also see the self interest in you know for you know. Recovering the global value change the trade and Investment Business trips and and sink in with there is true trends i think yes there are tendencies of countries to become insular and and and shutting of the doors and parochial but i think there is also an understanding that and the virus has made this so clear that these challenges are cross border it doesnt stop at the border you may close the border but the virus still gets in and so there is a increasing call for global coronation at various for at the u. N. The w. H. O. At the g 20 and we do hope that beyond the talk that there will be greater multilateral collaboration in overcoming not just the Health Crisis but also the Socio Economic crisis as well south Korean Foreign minister concha while thank you for joining us on conflicts. Thank you. Africa. And more is the way to save lives endangered species. Bills are threatened by environmental destruction. A South African project tries to protect the baby birds and lovingly rearing them by hand. But theres nothing to stop nature from calling eco africa. 30 minutes on d w. In good shape. Do d you know those people who protect themselves from the sun god as the weather the risk of skin cancer is rising what about getting some essential from sunlight is a felony dr i would like to prescribe you son but what are the drugs what is right dosage and what ive cited in the good ship. 20 minutes on d w. Im going crazy thing in all the time. How to handle our new allies in times of the current a pandemic. Keep your job or is it just like everyone else and shes looking for answers and thankfully with the help of jamie expect. Thank you bruce is not life as we know it. Our new web series. The global corona crisis you can find more Information Online at d w dot com and on t w social media channels. Visited over news of life from the cut on a lot of sense germanys economy into recession. More than 2 percent in the 1st quarter as dividers plateaus biggest economy its the countrys worst construction you know what a decade well have analysis and Market Reaction coming up. For votes on slams into the philippines as