ANNAPOLIS — Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced Monday afternoon the receipt over the weekend of 5,000 LabGun COVID-19 PCR test kits from South Korea. The delivery means the state now has the capability to conduct 500,000 individual tests, more than the top four other states combined.

Gov. Hogan said, “We’ve been doing everything in our power” as his administration searched for weeks in the United States and abroad for more kits, which are in critically short supply.

The tests arrived in a Korean Air Boeing 777 charter flight. The aircraft was met by a delegation including National Guard troops, the governor and his wife Yumi.

Gov. Hogan said the kits cost $9 million.

On March 28, “Operation Enduring Friendship” was launched when the governor’s Korean-American wife Yumi spoke to the Korean ambassador to the United Nations. “We made a personal plea, in Korean, for their assistance,” Gov. Hogan said.

In the following weeks, calls were made nearly daily, often late at night as a result of the 13-hour time difference, to arrange for the purchase and transportation of the kits. The delivery itself was the first time a Korean Air jet landed at Baltimore-Washington Airport.

Other arrangements involved vetting the tests’ producers, LabGenomics, and obtaining clearance from many federal agencies for the shipment.
Ms. Hogan herself represents another first — she is the first Korean-American to serve as the first lady of any state. That relationship was noticed by President of South Korea Moon Jae-in during a video call with state governors at the home of Ambassador the United States Su-hyok Yi in February, when President Moon referred to Gov. Hogan as a “hang-gook sai,” or son-in-law, to the Korean people.

“I want to sincerely thank our Korean partners,” Gov. Hogan said, adding in Korean, “Gamsahabnida,” meaning, “Thank you.”