Gov't to conduct coronavirus tests on all Shincheonji followers

A letter, posted online Monday, written by Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, saying the church is cooperating with the government's quarantine efforts. /Screen capture from the Shincheonji Church of Jesus homepage

By Bahk Eun-ji

The government will conduct coronavirus tests on all followers of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, as the religious group agreed to provide a complete list of its members, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSC) announced Tuesday.

As soon as the government secures the list of members, it will conduct diagnostic tests on all of them, starting with high-risk groups.

Lee Man-hee, founder of Shincheonji Church of Jesus /Korea Times file

The move comes as about 60 percent of all infected patients have been linked to the church sect in the southeastern city of Daegu. The minor religious group has been the target of public anger since it was revealed to be connected to the recent surge in coronavirus infections in the region. Korea has reported 977 cases of the highly contagious virus, with 10 deaths, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The CDSC said the total number of Shincheonji followers is known to be around 215,000, and the church group said it has decided to provide information such as resident registration numbers and addresses, excluding their names for fear of their personal information being leaked.

“The government has elicited cooperation from the Shincheonji Church after expressing our commitment to taking strict legal measures against the group if it does not fully join the government's drive to contain the virus,” said the head of the CDSC in a statement.

Concerns about the rapid spread of COIVD-19 in communities has heightened since last week, prompting the government to raise the alert against the coronavirus to the highest level possible.

Local governments across the country including the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Gyeonggi Provincial Office have been forced to shut down regional branches and facilities of the church group to try to identify the locations of its followers. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said the government should promptly secure the list of Shincheonji members for full testing, even if it required employing force such as the seizure of its buildings.

The church claimed it is cooperating with the government's quarantine efforts. Lee Man-hee, the founder of Shincheonji, posted a message on the religious group's homepage early Tuesday morning, and said it has been decided to provide the government with a list of followers in a bid to cooperate with government policy.

The church said it has decided to first provide a list of followers who have visited its Daegu branch since last month and those followers who have visited other regions while living in Daegu.