Korea has FINALLY amended a law (The Disease Prevention Law under that beacon of freedom that is Chun Doo-hwan) that required HIV testing centres to report names and addresses of those testing positive for HIV. From the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs “It is allowed by the law for testers to not reveal their names or addresses, they could also use a fake name” (Korea Herald, December 4). Currently, Korea and 11 other countries; Armenia, Colombia, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Sudan, United States and Yemen. Like playing a macabre game of ‘Name The Democracy’. This also explains why Korea has a really low incidence of AIDS/HIV. No one gets tested, for fear of being pilloried.
On a brighter note, the Korean HIV/AIDS Prevention and Support Centre does anonymous testing. They also provide services in Chinese, English, Korean Mongolian, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese. Foreigners found to have HIV/AIDS are routinely kicked out and, as above, tourists with HIV/AIDS are prevented from entering the country. Though, what happens if a foreigner contracts the virus while in Korea?
Filed under: Korea | Tagged: Armenia, Chun Doo-hwan, Colombia, Iraq, khap.org, Korea, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Sudan, United States, Yemen
[...] Up until a few years ago, Korea also had the lowest incidence of AIDS/HIV in the world. The reason? People were simply not being tested because if they tested positive they would be likely to lose their jobs (or deported in the case of foreigners). More info from a previous post. [...]