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What is the meaning of "where others have failed" in the following sentence,

One country that appears to have succeeded with the coronavirus where others have failed is South Korea.

(Source: BBC WORLD NEWS)

Does it mean "One country that appear to have succeeded with the coronavirus where(=in one country) is South Korea. and Others have failed with coronavirus" ?

If so, why did BBC New put "Others have failed" not out of the sentence,but into the sentence, "One country that appear to have succeeded with the coronavirus where is South Korea"? Is this still grammatically correct? What kind of grammar are these?

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    Where does not have the literal meaning "in what place" here, but a metaphorical meaning "in the circumstances that".
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 0:32
  • if so, can we rewrite "One country that appears to have succeeded with the coronavirus where others have failed is South Korea" as "One country that appears to have succeeded with the coronavirus is South Korea, where others have failed" ?
    – user22046
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 0:45
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    User 22046. That paraphrase, with the "where" clause at the end, is grammatical, but it is ambiguous, and likely to be read differently. If the "where" follows "South Korea" it is more natural to interpret "where" literally, and read that as meaning that "others have failed in South Korea". That is pretty well the opposite to what the original sentence means.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 10:37

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"...where others have failed..." is an adverb phrase that has almost the same sense as "...though others have failed...", but it implies that the effort was the same for all countries.
Specifically, it says "South Korea has succeeded in the effort to control coronavirus, and other countries have not succeeded at the same task".

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  • Can the meaning of "where" be used as "though"? So far, I haven't known where is meant though. Can you give me such a few of examples? Can we understand "where" in the sentence as "whereas"? as in, "where some caregivers burn out, others become too involved"
    – user22046
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 0:50
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    No, "where" isn't the same as "though" in general, but "though" could be used in that sentence. "Whereas" is a synonym of "though", and it could be used in that sentence too. But the specific meaning of "where" in that sentence is "in the coronavirus situation", comparing the success of South Korea and the failure of other countries in that same effort. Yes, this use is like that of "where" in your sentence about caregivers. Notice that you could substitute "though" in that sentence too.
    – Jack O'Flaherty
    Commented Apr 5, 2020 at 1:10

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