Anti-virus fight or freedom of religion: What deserves priority?
President Moon Jae-in, center, speaks during a meeting with church leaders at Cheong Wa Dae, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
President Moon Jae-in strongly criticized a Seoul church Thursday for hampering the government's fight against the new coronavirus outbreak, saying its "brazen" attitude has put relevant national efforts in jeopardy.
"Still, some churches (in South Korea) are sticking to face-to-face worship services," he said during a Cheong Wa Dae meeting with 16 leaders of the nation's Protestant community.
In particular, Moon said, a "specific church is rejecting and obstructing the government's coronavirus-related guidelines," without mentioning its name.
Moon was apparently referring to Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul, a hotbed of the recent cluster infections sweeping through the greater Seoul area and spreading fast to other parts of the country.
Its pastor Jun Kwang-hoon ― a firebrand right-wing pastor who has long openly criticized the Moon administration ― and many followers ignored the health authorities' warnings and participated in a massive anti-government rally in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, on Aug. 15. Jun was among those who tested positive for the virus after the rally.
The number of COVID-19 patients associated with the church has reached 1,000, with nearly 300 others confirmed to be infected in connection with the demonstration, Moon said.
"As a result, South Korea's antivirus fight, which has been exemplary for the world's antivirus fight, is facing a crisis at the moment, and the whole country is going through big difficulties," the president said in his opening remarks. "The people's lives are collapsing as well."
Church members should have apologized for that, but instead they are claiming a "conspiracy theory" while defying relevant regulations, he said.
Jun has argued that the virus was intentionally brought into his church for a political reason.
"What's not understandable at all with common sense is occurring at some places in the name of the church," Moon said, adding that it is damaging the image of all South Korean churches.
The president requested the religious circles' support for the government's campaign to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
He stressed that worship and prayers cannot protect people from the virus, which is a matter of science and medical services.
The government has formally banned gatherings and all other activities by churches in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, except for non-contact worship services.
Regarding the ongoing strike by doctors nationwide against the government's medical sector reform plans, Moon said their collective action is like "soldiers leaving the battleground in a wartime situation."
It is also tantamount to a "walkout by firefighters in the midst of the largest-ever blaze," he said.
For the government, though, there are not many options, he said, pledging that it would continue efforts for "sincere dialogue" with doctors on the basis of law and principles.
"I believe and expect that our medical community will never turn a blind eye to the suffering of the people attributable to the coronavirus," he said. (Yonhap)