South Korea seeks Covid-19 vaccine shots from US in return for earlier aid

South Korea has inoculated just 3 per cent of its population due to tight global supply and limited access. PHOTO: REUTERS

SEOUL (REUTERS) - South Korea's Foreign Minister said on Wednesday (April 21) that he hopes the United States will help Seoul address its Covid-19 vaccine shortage in return of favour for test kits and masks it sent to Washington earlier in the pandemic.

The request comes as the South Korean government has come under fire from local media for not doing enough to secure enough vaccines early. It has inoculated just 3 per cent of its population due to tight global supply and limited access.

"We have been stressing to the US that 'a friend in need is a friend indeed'," Mr Chung Eui-yong told reporters at the Kwanhun Club, a representative association of journalists in South Korea.

He said South Korea had airlifted to Washington a large volume of Covid-19 test kits and face masks in the early stages of the pandemic "in the spirit of the special South Korea-US alliance", even as domestic supply was very tight.

"We are hoping that the US will help us out with the challenges we are facing with the vaccines, based on the solidarity we demonstrated last year."

Mr Chung said the two countries were in talks and raised the potential contribution it can make to the global vaccine supply chain that US President Joe Biden is keen on.

Mr Park Jin, an opposition party lawmaker, called for more aggressive vaccine diplomacy and urged the government to invoke its free trade agreement (FTA) with Washington to demand access to pharmaceutical products.

"The government needs to be more proactive... and the FTA provides us a legal base to demand (vaccines) as it stipulates the two countries' commitment to promoting the development of and facilitating access to pharmaceutical products," Mr Park told Reuters.

The US embassy in Seoul did not immediately reply to Reuters' request for comment.

Around 1.77 million people in South Korea have had their first dose of AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. The low inoculation rate compares with a 40 per cent vaccination rate in the US, according to Reuters data.

South Korea reported 731 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, surging from 549 cases a day earlier and bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 115,926, with 1,806 deaths.

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