Following the 2003 the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in South Korea, this research aims to explore and examine the factors influencing the response to infectious diseases, which encompasses both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Through a qualitative research method, this research categorizes the factors as inputs, processes and outputs and applies them into the 2003 SARS and MERS outbreak in South Korea. As the results conducted meta-analyses to comprehensively analyze the correlations of factors influencing disaster response from a Korean context, the findings show that the legislative factor had direct and indirect influence on the overall process of infectious disease response and that Leadership of the central government, establishment of an intergovernmental response system, the need for communication, information sharing and disclosure and onsite response were identified as key factors influencing effective infectious disease response. over the responsibilities that used to belong to MPSS. Despite the persisting limitations in disaster response and management, studies related to disaster response continued to discuss the need to achieve the common goal of effective disaster management within a network with participation from regional government, central government, private organizations, citizen's groups and military units based on independence and autonomy [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] . Moreover, other studies outlined factors influencing disaster management and response from a macroscopic perspective and analyzed disaster management and response through awareness surveys [8, [12] [13] [14] . Discussions on disaster resilience have been increasing in recent years. The term "resilience" refers to a concept that demonstrates the attributes of the ecosystem as a system, which has become a social science concept [15] and is being applied in disaster management. After a disaster, our society requires resilience to return to normalcy following the disaster's physical and social impact. This can be regarded as part of the recovery phase of disaster management. Resilience includes not only a physical system but also disaster resilience at the organizational level, which is the ability to cooperate in coordinating key resources by going above and beyond for the community and minimizing operational confusion [16] . Despite the various disaster-related studies in Korea and abroad mentioned above, studies about disasters within the context of Korea, where discussions on disasters have only recently begun, have been qualitatively and quantitatively insufficient. Therefore, in addition to the existing studies, diverse and comprehensive discussions consisting of identification and securement of resources for disaster management; information sharing; timely and accurate communication and coordination with relevant agencies; networking processes that organically link disaster prevention and preparedness during non-disaster times; response during a disaster; recovery after a disaster; and learning from the experience of the disaster; are needed for effective disaster response. However, as the present study focused on disaster response, its discussion section did not cover recovery that includes resilience. Moreover, the present study focused on infectious diseases. Despite not being the first infectious disease outbreak in Korea, responses to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak in 2015 had completely different outcomes. In 2003, upon identification of the outbreak of an emerging infection known as SARS in China, immediate nationwide preventive measures and an organic cooperation system involving the central government, health centers and quarantine stations nationwide were implemented. In the end, approximately over 8000 people worldwide, including in China, were infected and approximately 770 people died. However, Korea had only three confirmed SARS patients and no deaths; as a result, Korea was assessed as a model nation for SARS prevention by the World Health Organization (WHO). By 2015, however, more than 10 years later, Korea's reputation regarding infectious disease response had been tarnished by systematic problems and the absence of disaster management and communication capacity. After the MERS outbreak, everyone felt the need for an in-depth examination of issues concerning how the infectious disease response system in Korea had changed over the past 10 years; the role of the central government, experts and the onsite command system and organizations at regional level; and how to solve some of those problems. Despite the growing interest in and the need for further research, there are only few studies on the factors that determine the success and failure of infectious disease response and the responses to administrative and policy aspects. Therefore, the present study aimed to conduct a systematic investigation into the factors that influence disaster response, focusing specifically on infectious diseases by examining cases of outbreaks of infectious diseases that have occurred in Korea. The study aimed to analyze the correlations of the factors that influence infectious diseases by conducting a review of articles, precedent studies and other publications.
Output: Factors Influencing the Response to Infectious Diseases: Focusing on the Case of SARS and MERS in South Korea