한·미·일의 코로나19 초기 재난대응 전략 비교 고찰

A Comparative Study of the Initial Disaster Response Strategy for the COVID-19: In the Case of Korea, USA, and Japan

(Purpose) The purpose of this study is to propose a risk management strategy that can build an initial disaster response system focused on effectively predicting and responding to future risks. (Design/methodology/approach) This study conducted an in-depth comparative analysis of the initial disaster response systems of USA, Japan and Korea in terms of national strategy, governance, and decision-making system. To examine the national strategy, governance, and decision-making system of each country, this study focused on analyzing the government reports and newspaper articles dealing with each country’s policy responses to Covid-19. (Findings) In Korea, the inter-organizational, inter-governmental, and inter-sectoral collaboration in terms of governance was achieved in the early stage of COVID-19 response. In the Japanese governance, although many private expert groups existed, the government failed to translated their advice into actual policies in tackling COVID-19. The US government failed to respond effectively to COVID-19 because of the President’s political calculations, although it had a robust disaster response system and good collaborative governance. All of the three countries tried to mitigate the rapid spread of COVID-19 by monitoring its signs and controlling various risk factors. However, because there was little information on the socio-economic effects of COVID-19, the government of each country simply provided a huge amount of relief aid, which created massive financial burden on each country. (Research implications or Originality) This study conducted a comparative analysis of the initial policy responses to COVID-19 in Korea, USA, and Japan. From this comparative analysis, this study drew several implications for how the national management strategy in Korea should be formulated and implemented to effectively forecast and respond to newly emerging risks. First, the Korean government tried to improve the legal system, response organization, and decision-making system in order to promote ‘prevention and preparation’-oriented risk management system. Second, to actively implement risk assessment, which includes both risk detection and evaluation, and build a government organization that is responsible for risk assessment; Third, to launch a reorganization focused on integrating different risk management systems to promote collaborative efforts to mitigate the ripple effects of disasters; Fourth, to strengthen the expert groups’ competencies to support decision-making in the disaster response stage.