Over the last few weeks, South Korea has been struggling to contain the viral respiratory illness known as Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS.
So far, at least 27 people have died while more than 170 have been infected in the largest outbreak of the illness outside of Saudi Arabia. The South Korean media have focused on the government's allegedly slow response to the spread of MERS. This has put new pressure on President Park Geun-hye's administration, which was already suffering from plummeting approval ratings stemming from the mismanagement of last year's sinking of the ferry Sewol. That tragedy killed 304 people, many of them young students.
