Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Unauthorized alternative missionary school feared to become virus hotbed
Students of IEM school, an unauthorized alternative missionary education center, take a bus headed to a COVID-19 treatment center, Tuesday, from a church in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, where they had stayed. Thirty-seven of them tested positive for the coronavirus. Yonhap
By Lee Hyo-jin
By Lee Hyo-jin
A massive COVID-19 infection cluster at an unauthorized alternative missionary school located in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, put the health authorities on high alert Tuesday. The International English Mission (IEM) is an alternative boarding school located in central Daejeon, run by the missionary group International Mission (IM), which has a wide network with over 20 similar facilities nationwide.
More than 100 teenagers, aged between 16 and 18, were attending the school to receive vocational education and training to become international missionaries. Although it is called a school, it is not authorized by the education authorities and its graduates are not recognized as having completed middle or high school courses.
As of Tuesday, 132 people linked to the school, including 112 students, were found to be infected with COVID-19.
Another 37 students from the school who had been staying at a church in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, along with a pastor and his wife, were also confirmed to have the coronavirus. They had been staying there since Jan. 16, according to city officials.
In addition, TCS Ace International School, another alternative missionary school run by IM, has reported 12 confirmed cases at its branch in Yonggin, Gyeonggi Province, and 31 connected to another branch in Gwangju.
The health authorities believe that the unauthorized schools had remained in a government blind spot as they were not registered with the education ministry.
They said that the IEM school's poor response to the infections worsened the situation. Several students who showed early symptoms of the virus were sent home, not to testing sites.
“A large number of people staying together in a densely packed facility, and not adhering to social distancing measures, has led to this awful situation,” Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jeong said during a briefing, Tuesday. Over 100 confirmed cases in Daejeon in a single day is the largest number the city has seen since the start of the pandemic.
According to the city, 120 students entered the school dormitory in early January. Seven to 20 students were assigned to each room, and the students shared common areas such as a cafeteria, showers, and restrooms without proper antivirus measures.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun called for the health authorities and municipal governments to take strong and prompt measures to curb additional infections, and to ensure that cases connected to the infection cluster at the school do not spiral out of control.
“Based on what we have learnt through the Shincheonji and BTJ cases, we will be able to win this fight against time,” he said during a COVID-19 response meeting, Tuesday.