timelets

The officials’ outfits were among the most notable recurrent patterns in their media appearances to announce these actions. They used face masks and wore a light-yellow jacket, which is used only in emergency situations in Korea. In a society where wearing less than a formal suit in such media speeches is unthinkable, the casual pattern and outstanding colour of the jacket immediately drew viewers’ attention. Moreover, the fact that all the officials, regardless of gender and rank, from the President to the Secretary of the health department wore exactly the same jacket also signalled solidarity and unison in the face of danger rather than normative hierarchy. From February 2020, Mun Chae-in, the President, and other government officials were often shown visiting hospitals, factories and markets wearing masks and the yellow jackets, thus signalling that life can continue but attention must be paid to the prevention of the virus’ spread.
...
Seoul has a unique democratic protest culture and several mass protests in the early 21st
century achieved their goals; among them, the notorious weekly rally to impeach the president
in 2016-7. The commonly generalized view expressed in world media that Koreans are docile
citizens because of their Confucian heritage (for example, Escobar 2020; Purnell 2020) does
little to address the actual reality. As my recent ethnography about protest in Seoul shows
(Sarfati 2018), the Korean public has proved its power over policy makers through their mass
dissent practices, which made the current government especially sensitive to the outcomes of
dire conditions.
...

The public has been aware of cases where ‘manipulative signaling’ was used through a fake demonstration of emotions (Leys 2017: 370-2). Such a manipulation is performed in order to extract a wanted reaction from the recipient for purposes that are not related to the signal. For example, when in 2016 the impeached president said that she cared for the Korean people, the public viewed this
as a false statement.
On the other hand, in 2020, the government’s signals were interpreted as ‘uncheatable’,
which are impossible to fake (Leys 2017: 273). The suggested guidelines broadcast in media
on a daily basis were not intended only to trigger a basic emotion of fear in the face of danger,
but also to drive people to actions that were explained with scientific data. The public was called
to use cognitive interpretation for processing and accepting the guidelines as the most rational
path of action under the circumstances. There has been little legal outlining or enforcement of
social distancing and other similar measures. Instead, the officials stated repeatedly that the
public is asked to cooperate. Later, when some individuals or groups refused to be tested for
Covid-19, they were prosecuted without much public objection.
...
Obtaining extensive public cooperation proved no less crucial than the professional management of the health system and bio-science.

--- Liora Sarfati, Signalling ‘Crisis’ in an Affective Manner: Government, Media and Public Cooperation during COVID-19 in South Korea. Urbanities, Vol. 10 · Supplement 4 · September 2020.

https://www.anthrojournal-urbanities.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Vol.-10-Suppl.-4-September-2020.pdf#page=78