Korean leader postpones US trip over MERS outbreak

South Korean President Park Geun-hye is postponing her planned visit to the U.S. next week, in the face of a deadly outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

A total of nine people have died from the disease so far — including two more on Wednesday — amid a total of 108 infections in the East Asian nation.

{mosads}The crisis is triggering a frenzied response from Korea, and Park’s scheduling changes are sure to raise suspicions about whether the government has the situation under control.

Park’s leadership has been repeatedly questioned during the three-week-long outbreak. That criticism has only compounded initial backlash from last year’s sinking of a ferry that killed 304 people.

MERS has no known cure.

Park was originally scheduled to fly to Washington next week for a Tuesday meeting with President Obama, followed by a visit to Houston.

The Yonhap news agency reported that she will delay that trip, though there has not yet been an attempt to reschedule. 

The delay is “designed to take care of public safety, including putting a quick end to MERS,” Korean press secretary Kim Sung-woo said, according to Yonhap.

“President Obama looks forward to welcoming President Park to the White House at a mutually convenient time in the future to discuss the U.S.-Korea alliance and the critical role it plays in assuring regional stability and security,” White House National Security Council spokesman Ali Baskey said in a statement. “As just one example of this partnership, the United States is working closely with our Korean partners to support their response to the MERS cases in South Korea.”

The MERS outbreak began with the May 20 diagnosis of a Korean man who had visited the Middle East — where the viral illness is more common — and recently returned to South Korea.