Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Shincheonji cult and the explosion of covid 19 cases in South Korea

(image source- JTBC news, 2.27) Regional distribution of listed members of Sincheonji church. Numbers of persons waiting to become members is not included. To read the membership numbers for each region of the Shincheonji organization, understand that the church has 12 divisions based on 12 disciples. The region including Seoul and Kyeongkido, has 5 groups with membership totaling 90 thousand + 1600 persons or 91,600 persons. So the numbers comprising the total are 91600 + 24000 + 53600 + 19100 + 14400 + 36700 = 239,400. As explained below these numbers although quite large don't reflect the entire number of people directly related to the church in South Korea.

edited and revised 2.27

According to a BBC article:

"Shincheonji contributed significantly to the sharp rise in the number of patients in Korea," Won Suk-choi of the division of infectious diseases at the Korea University College of Medicine, told the BBC, but he also warns that "the situation Korea is currently experiencing can happen anywhere in the world".*

*Coronavirus: Why did infections shoot up in South Korea? Feb. 25, by Andreas Illmer, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51609840


There is an attempt by Sinchionji related sources to deny any responsibility for the rapid spread of the disease to Daegu and Cheongdo, South Korea. The contagious disease had already started spreading widely in China by the time the last of the church/cult members finally left Wuhan. By then the South Korean government was already well aware of the epidemic as evidenced by the advance warning to stay home rather than travel over the lunar holiday period starting January 25. It's fairly clear from the BBC article that a key event in Cheongdo, South Korea, occurred at the end of the January. Cheongdo was a nexus site for contagion in addition to the Sincheonji church in Daegu. While the source of the infection to the so called super spreader "case 31" from the Sincheonchi Church in Daegu, is unproven, it is likely that communication of the infection took place as a result of the church's evangelical activity in Wuhan, China. Case 31 denied going to the funeral event, but admitted going to a public sauna in Cheongdo.

A South China Morning Post article quotes a source that Sincheonji members in Wuhan had stopped attending worship services "by December." Some members may have stayed in Wuhan for weeks afterward, while the epidemic raged. According to the SCMP, "She said the group was continuing to share sermons and teachings online, but most members had returned home at the start of the Lunar New Year holiday in late January.*"

*Coronavirus: secretive South Korean church linked to outbreak held meetings in Wuhan until December.
Around 200 Shincheonji Church of Jesus members continued to meet in the Chinese city amid rumours of virus, but ‘no one took [claims] seriously’ at first. Around half the Covid-19 cases in South Korea have been linked to members of the religious group
Mimi Lau, Published: 10:24pm, 25 Feb, 2020
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3052322/coronavirus-secretive-south-korean-church-linked-outbreak-held

At first, the Sincheonji cult erased web evidence they had a congregation in Wuhan; told their members that in spite of having members in Wuhan that may have returned to South Korea, that no one was infected and that they were protected by god; that righteous believers did not need to wear masks, etc. A possible scenario emerges where persons connected to the Wuhan church group returned to South Korea and spread the virus before the South Korean quarantine measures were put in effect for Korean travelers returning from China.

It is likely that members involved in Sincheonchi in Daegu interacted with the Wuhan Sincheonji travelers and when they experienced cold like or flu like symptoms simply were in denial and kept going about their business: going to Sunday services; meeting prospects from the language school across the street from the church for Chinese ethnic Koreans (so they can read and understand Bible passages); and doing "voluntary work" at the local hospital, etc. The known Sincheonji spreader, Case 31, went to the Daegu church four times, two times asymptomatic, two times symptomatic. She probably wasn't the only one. The funeral at the Cheongdo hospital funeral service facility for the sect founder's brother was believed to have drawn travelers from overseas perhaps including China. Another news report in South Korea said “case 31” refused covid 19 screening twice after being symptomatic. One news report alleged that the leader's brother died from “pneumonia." The entire psychiatric ward at the Cheongdo hospital is now reported to have been infected with the virus. Four patients from the Cheongdo hospital have now died from the virus. The government's investigation of the funeral service attendees still is ongoing.

According to earlier South Korean reports, church membership lists provided by or taken by legal government process from Sincheonji congregations in South Korea for epidemiological screening and tracking didn’t include the lists of young people in the teens and twenties being recruited by the organization through their bible study program. Apparently this is now remedied, but approximately half of the additional 70,000 persons, have not yet been tracked down by local health authorities to determine their status. The estimated total number of people then related to the Sincheonji church is not 240,000 but closer to 310,000 persons. In other words, people waiting to become members are not members yet.

If one is familiar with the modus operandi and psychology of Korean congregations like this, they can be secretive, and jealous of their “human resources,” which are often taken from rival church congregations. Their "evangelism" takes on a predatory characteristic in the view of rival congregations sometimes infiltrated for recruitment purposes. People and practices are treated as proprietary interests and jealously guarded. On the other hand, members uncooperative disposition to provide information is often attributed to the group's "unpopularity," with the outside world. This appears to present a major difficulty in controlling the epidemic. The group's practices including close physical contact in crowded venues, instructions that preventative masks are a sacrilege, that members are protected by their faith from the virus, contributed to rapid contagion. There have been reports that when the church's facilities were closed, members continued to meet privately. Government warnings to church members to exercise self restraint and not go outside to public places have been ignored in documented cases where members continued to expose others and were later determined to have the virus.

Here is another instance involving a public health worker:

South Koreans vented anger after an official at a Daegu public health center that carries out virus tests continued to work even after he was told to get tested. He revealed he was a member of the Daegu Shincheonji church only after the test showed he was infected, Daegu officials said.*

* https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-southkorea-church/secretive-church-at-center-of-south-koreas-explosive-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKCN20L0Q8

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