Exogenous shocks such as pandemics have a profound influence on how citizens think about their country. We explore how the successful handling of COVID-19 shaped South Korean citizens' perception of their country. Empirically, we compare data from surveys conducted in August 2019 and April 2020. Using regression on matched samples, we find a significant increase in general national pride. More importantly, we find an increase in positive assessments of their country in domains directly related to the COVID-19 response (civic awareness and international leadership) but not in domains less directly related to the pandemic. We also find that while Koreans take pride in their collective response to the crisis, their disenchantment with the political class has grown. The implication is that citizens offer a remarkably nuanced understanding of how the COVID-19 response reflected the strengths of the Korean society, as opposed to the Korean political system.

中文翻译：

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流行病和公民对国家的看法：COVID-19 是否增强了韩国的民族自豪感？


流行病等外来冲击对公民对国家的看法有着深远的影响。我们探讨了 COVID-19 的成功处理如何影响了韩国公民对其国家的看法。根据经验，我们比较了 2019 年 8 月和 2020 年 4 月进行的调查数据。通过对匹配样本进行回归，我们发现总体民族自豪感显着增加。更重要的是，我们发现在与 COVID-19 应对措施直接相关的领域（公民意识和国际领导力）对他们国家的积极评价有所增加，但在与大流行不太直接相关的领域却没有增加。我们还发现，虽然韩国人对他们对危机的集体反应感到自豪，但他们对政治阶层的失望情绪却在增长。这意味着，公民对 COVID-19 应对措施如何反映韩国社会而不是韩国政治制度的优势有了非常细致的理解。