Korean Job Discussion Forums

[murmanjake]

Just got back from a winter festival in Pyeong-chang.

Before we entered festival grounds they "sterilized" us by smushing us 4 at a time into a telephone-booth sized box, and shining red lights on us for 15 seconds.

Apparently this was to prevent the spread of FMD.

Seemed pretty ineffective to me. Doesn't someone need to be stripped down and scrubbed with lye or something to be effectively sterilized?

I did not witness any Koreans receive the treatment. There was another, larger entrance that could be used. It wouldn't have been practical to sterilize everybody, so were they just going for anyone that was "obviously" from away?

Was this just a gesture of compliance with the disease-control regulations, or do you think this was actually effective?

What other measures to control the spread of FMD have you witnessed or heard about?

[computermichael]

It sounds like one of those things that restaurants keep their cups in.

[Artris]

I'm not sure if FMD is viral or bacterial but it sounds like they were looking for infection rather than killing it. Sort of the same way they show blood responding to ultraviolet light, only this time a different wavelength was used.

[interestedinhanguk]

[jrwhite82]

Yes, they are using the light to kill the disease to stop the spread of it. How effective is light on FMD? No idea.

If you own a car or travel between areas taht are infected or not, you will have noticed them spraying your car with some white mist. What I want to know is what the hell is that stuff? It freaks me out.

[redaxe]

I don't get this, why do Koreans think that shining a weak ultraviolet light on something sterilizes it? In order to actually kill germs you'd probably need to crank up the energy so high it would give you a sunburn...

[murmanjake]

It could give you a sunburn.

From a bit of reading on wikipedia I learned that UV radiation is a highly effective germicide.

It's used mainly in laboratory settings, and for water and air purification.

Wikipedia doesn't mention its use to sterilize people and their clothing.

The light they shined on us was red, but from pictures I've seen it seems that Ultraviolet Germicidal Radiation usually appears to be blue.

I'm also skeptical because line of sight is required for it to be effective. Obviously with lights shone from above on 4 people crowded into a tiny box there are plenty of places that aren't getting any exposure.

Am I wrong to read a little bit of xeonphobia into this as well? Why would foreigners only get this special treatment?