Secrecy is paramount for South Korean sect linked to coronavirus surge. Many believers are in SoCal
This photo taken on March 1, 2020 shows Kim Shin-chang, director of international missions at the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, wearing a face mask as he speaks during an interview with AFP at the headquarters of the church in Gwacheon, south of Seoul. / AFP-YonhapBy Victoria KimSEOUL, South Korea _ It was only after months of Bible study classes, several exams based on those lessons and hundreds of hours spent with members of the religious community that Esau Martinez learned the name of the group that had come to dominate his daily life."We're based in Korea; our organization is called Shincheonji," members of his small group discreetly told him over Korean barbecue in Orange County, as if letting him in on a closely guarded secret, Martinez recalled. "We're going to be passing over soon," they told him. "We're going to be signing the 'Book of Life.'"That day, Martinez, then a 19-year-old community college student, realized how methodically he had been approached, recruited and indoctrinated, starting from the moment a classmate casually invited him to play basketball.Unbeknown to h
Mar 4, 2020