Daegu mayor denies alleged Shincheonji connection

Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin speaks during a media briefing about the spread of COVID-19 at Daegu City Hall, March 6. / Courtesy of Daegu City Government

By Jun Ji-hye

Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin vehemently denied speculation, Wednesday, that he has links to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the minor religious sect at the center of the surge in COVID-19 cases here.

He called allegation about him having relations with the church, made by his critics and some media outlets, a “devilish conspiracy” and an attempt to smear Daegu's reputation for political purposes.

Daegu has been a traditionally conservative-leaning region.

“They are creating a devilish conspiracy by implicating the Shincheonji Church, Daegu and me in the COVID-19 issue,” Kwon wrote on Facebook.

“I have not been able to sleep properly while waging war against the new coronavirus for 22 days. This fight has been already too much, but I now have to fight against the vulgar media attempting to scratch Daegu's reputation, and bad politics' conflicting design of progress versus conservatism in addition to the Shincheonji Church's uncooperative attitude toward the city's quarantine activities.”

He continued, “I will continue to fight to protect Daegu and put an end to this war.”

While Korea has reported thousands of infected patients, most of them have occurred in Daegu, with a major cluster of infections linked to the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church.

Rumors about the mayor's alleged involvement with the minor Christian sect began to be made after critics claimed he had not taken any active steps to prevent the spread of the disease in the city even after the first case linked to the church was reported Feb. 18.

On Tuesday, a local media outlet reported that Kwon has consistently been in contact with a volunteer group believed to have been operated by the church, amplifying the controversy further.

According to the report, the head of the volunteer group uploaded photos taken with Kwon to Facebook on several occasions.

Regarding the issue, a Daegu city official said, “We knew nothing of the volunteer group's connection with the Shincheonji Church. Kwon knew nothing, either.”