NY Times' opinion on South Korea's Shincheonji an anti-democratic ploy

There is an apologia for the cult up over at the NY Times:

Being Called a Cult Is One Thing, Being Blamed for an Epidemic Is Quite Another
How one mysterious church became a lightning rod for South Koreans’ anger over the coronavirus outbreak.

By Raphael Rashid

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/opinion/coronavirus-south-korea-church.html

The misleading opinion creates the straw man that the democratic administration of Moon Jae-in "stumbled" in handling the corona outbreak at first, and attacked the cult in defense of domestic political criticism. That is, Moon Jae In's government uses the Shincheonji cult as a scapegoat and blames it for "starting" the epidemic in South Korea. This is consistent with the NY Times preference in favor of far right politicians in South Korea who toady to US policy. The biased opinion represents little more than an attempt to influence the news cycle in South Korea as the general election looms, on April 15, 2020, rather than the Presidential election in 2022, on which the opinion erroneously focuses.  In the election taking place in just weeks the prospects of the right wing opposition are uncertain in contrast to the image created by the Times' opinion.

The Times opinion article is a sham. It follows the lead of a similar New Yorker magazine article that likewise ignores the basic facts including the chronology of events surrounding the cult and the covid 19 epidemic in South Korea.   That chronology is discussed in my post immediately below. In the Times opinion is no discussion of the church's connections to Wuhan, and specific acts, omissions, and misrepresentations, exacerbating the epidemic in South Korea.

https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2020/03/shincheonji-is-responsible-for-covid-19.html

Lee Man-hee's press conference on March 2, was a carefully orchestrated show.  He "apologized" and bowed to the people and government of South Korea twice, prominently displaying his Park Geun-hye, solid gold presidential watch, in an attempt to elicit more political support from the right.   He affected either being hard of hearing, or incompetent, and had to use an assistant to answer questions incorrectly.  It was a very cunning display in a futile attempt to elicit sympathy and support in a situation warranting neither.   In the end, virtually no information was elicited, except that "case 31" is responsible for everything.   In contrast to the image of senility, Lee and his staff are in complete control of church officials and members on a daily basis according to former members.

One former organization insider said on a YTN news interview today that had Lee Man-hee, who has the status of a god or a dictator wished, and given the word, every single one of his followers would have shown up for corona virus testing in South Korean jurisdictions affected within one day's time. The organization's lack of full cooperation and disclosure is intentional and the recent public statements, apologies and offers of money and cooperation are a pose to disguise their culpability for recklessly aggravating the outbreak beyond all reason.

It is reassuring to know, that a prominent expert on Korean affairs such as T.K. over at Ask a Korean.com has posted a twitter thread today panning the Times opinion for similar reasons. Many medical experts recognize that the South Korean response to the outbreak is the most advanced public health effort of any seen yet in response to this epidemic. Had it not been for the secretiveness, evasiveness, misrepresentations, and lack of cooperation from this delusional cult, the crisis in South Korea would be well in hand at this point.

https://twitter.com/AskAKorean/status/1237040584851939328