Education
South Korean drone shows advise watchers to wash their hands and wear masks.
In the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea has done a surprisingly good job. Even as analysts warn of a second outbreak of pathogens, the government has arranged an unprecedented means of both thanking its frontline medical personnel for their hard work and urging people to comply with prevention measures: a drone light display over the Han River in the capital of Seoul.
The show, as reported by France 24 and Al Jazeera, took place last Friday, 6 July, and featured 300 drones in a 10-minute show. The exhibition was organized by the Ministry of Land , Infrastructure and Transport and was designed to thank the frontline health workers.
It started with messages encouraging people to wear masks, wash their faces, and follow social distancing laws, before expressing a message of appreciation to doctors, nurses , and other medical personnel. At the end of the series, the drones formed the outline of the Korean Peninsula overlaid with the word, "Cheer up, Republic of Korea."
You can watch a preview of the light show below, titled "Thanks & Hope" in English:
This may be an unconventional way to attempt to improve public morality, but reports say that people in South Korea are grappling with aspects of coronavirus protection , especially wearing masks — a daunting challenge in the hot summers of the South Korean capital.
While mask-wearing has not been a politicized issue in South Korea as it has in the US, records of "mask-wrath" events in the country are on the rise, with police reporting some 840 clashes, many on public transport, caused by non-mask-wearing individuals in June. A drone light display may not be enough to cool down these tempers, but at least it's a diversion.
