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Why a South Korean mayor is ‘sorry’ for falling for vaccine scam
A South Korean mayor who almost fell for a vaccine scam has publicly apologised for his actions.
The mayor, Kwon Young-jin, told the media last month that a foreign company promised to provide 30 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine within three weeks, but little did he know his promise was influenced by a scammer.
Pfizer does not actually distribute through third-parties.
Mr Kwon has been critical of the government’s vaccine programme, stating that South Korea has seen a relatively slow vaccine rollout of the vaccine when compared to other more developed economies in the region.
Some 16 percent of South Koreans have received their first vaccine dose.
The mayor who did the deal has been quite critical of the governments vaccine rollout.
Mr Kwon is a member of the opposition party.
“It was my mistake that this case regarded as one of the simple cases of a failed vaccine import has escalated into a fake vaccine fraud case,”
said Mr Kwon, according to a Yonhap news report.
“The image of Daegu was tarnished due to my careless words. I also caused deep wounds and disappointment to the citizens suffering from COVID-19.”