President Moon Jae-in has extended his thanks to the general public, as he shared via social media the government's realization of its goal to vaccinate 70 percent of the population before the official start of the Chuseok holiday. 

The president swiftly shared health authorities’ announcement that over 36 million people had received at least their first shots of the COVID-19 vaccine as of 5 p.m. that day. 

Noting the feat came in just 204 days after the nation began its inoculation program, Moon called it "unmatched speed" among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) nations, aside from Iceland with a population of 340-thousand people. 

The president expressed gratitude for the public's active participation, while also giving credit to the men and women running the country's vaccination infrastructure. He also hailed the dedication of medical professionals. 

Moon pledged continuous efforts to complete the vaccination program to protect the public from the virus and move up the timeline for a return to normalcy. He added South Korea will soon realize a 80 percent first-shot vaccination rate and also become a top country in the world for second-shot vaccinations.