According to a recent news report, 53 percent of South Koreans approve of the Moon administration's handling of the novel corona virus outbreak in South Korea. There is a right wing interpretation of recent events in the New Yorker by Suki Kim that tries to blame President Moon Jae-in for the massive run up in covid-19 numbers.
On January 26th, three days after China’s lockdown on Wuhan, the Korean Medical Association, the country’s largest association of doctors, urged the government to temporarily bar entry to all travellers arriving from mainland China. Moon’s government did not heed that warning. Instead, it donated a million and a half face masks to China. Moon’s defenders point out that the World Health Organization does not recommend a travel ban for virus prevention...*
*How South Korea Lost Control of Its Coronavirus Outbreak
By Suki Kim, March 4, 2020.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-south-korea-lost-control-of-its-coronavirus-outbreak
The New Yorker opinion piece omits certain critical facts that haven't received much press attention abroad because the organization responsible for the massive increase in cases, the Shincheonji cult, was and still is, withholding material information related to the spread of the disease. The epidemic in South Korea, could have been better contained but for the secretive, delusional and manipulative orientation of the cult.
The Shincheonji organization concealed it's activities in Wuhan, China. There is a video of Shincheonji spokesperson on March 2, 2020, making a misleading statement stating they had closed their church in Wuhan in 2018. The Chinese government closed the church, but the congregation's members continued to meet for church activities. In Wuhan, after the epidemic became public knowledge there, the Sincheonji reported they were meeting "online." Allegedly, up to some point in December, they had been meeting several times a week in private locations such as cafes, homes and apartments conducting church related functions in groups as large as 20 or more, in confined spaces. One of these locations was only five kilometers from the seafood marketplace in Wuhan suspected to be a nexus of early covid 19 transmission. Three other locations were not much further away inside Wuhan. The JTBC investigative report disclosed 356 Sincheonji Wuhan members into late 2019. Where are they now? This is under government investigation. The church claims it doesn't have the ability to track the whereabouts of its "210,000" members. A document obtained by the JTBC program showed the church maintained 160 evangelical locations (Gospel rooms) in Wuhan.
According to insiders familiar with the organization's practices, an influx of Shincheonji members into South Korea, from overseas, including Wuhan, probably occurred on or before January 12, 2020, when the annual general assembly of the church took place in Gwacheon, South Korea. At the January 12, general assembly of the church, the presence of members from the Chinese elements of the Seoul chapter of the church was acknowledged on a recorded video.
A former church member reported on Lee Kyu-yon's Spotlight investigative journalism program, (March 6, youtube) that a further influx could have taken place on or after January 19, 2020, in anticipation of the lunar new year's holiday. Both of these potential avenues of transmission took place before the Chinese quarantine on travel outside Wuhan on January 23 took effect. Two spotlight sources, respectively, stated that it would be natural to expect sect travelers from China in South Korea during these two periods in January. The key events took place before the dates cited as pertinent in the New Yorker opinion. According to a source, reported by the SCMP, the members had all left Wuhan for the lunar new year break. Current news broadcasts in South Korea indicate based upon public health tracking, that 63 percent of all covid 19 infections are known to be related, directly and indirectly, to the secretive cult. A look at the cluster distribution around Daegu, Gyeongbuk, and Cheongdo, suggests circumstantially, that the true number is closer to 90 percent. The Daegu cluster is directly related to the Sincheonji church in that city.
It is documented that church public relations directed followers when interviewed by public health investigators to lie about their contacts with known carriers of the corona virus from the church, and to deny attending church services. The investigation by government officials was characterized as "persecution" of the church. According to the church, this action was the responsibility of one misguided church official.
The leader of the cult, Lee Man-hui, at his press conference has attempted to hold one member,known as "case 31" personally responsible as a "super spreader" for the catastrophic outbreak in Daegu, Gyeongbuk, Cheongdo, and related commmunities. This obviates several dimensions of the problem. There remains the consistent effort by the cult to obscure the Wuhan connection from the government and public. Believers were told and this was recorded in one congregation in Pusan, that members from Wuhan were not infected, and that believers would not be affected by the virus. The behavior of case 31 is consistent with a delusion within the sect that sickness is the sign of the devil, and in this specific epidemic, the devil's blow against the organization. This explains why patient 31 refused the covid 19 test on two occasions while infected, and attended packed worship services while symptomatic. It also explains why members of the church told to self quarantine, continued to play active roles in the outside community, including 2 infected members who provided public health services and failed to reveal their Shincheonji affiliation until symptomatic with virus and proven to have covid 19.
Another interesting aspect of the New Yorker criticism citing later dates when the Moon administration placed restrictions on travelers from China, is the attempt to compare Moon's administration to Park Geun-hye's negligent handling of the Sewol ferry disaster. It hasn't gone unnoticed that Lee Man-hui wore his gold "presidential" watch, allegedly presented to him by the impeached and imprisoned President Park during his "apology" press conference which only lasted minutes. This is because his anti-science, delusional christian fundalmentalists were a key part of her base in the Saenuri Party. They are not the only religious fundamentalist supporters of Park that have defied public health efforts during the epidemic. Conservatives promoting blame of the Moon administration's public health efforts are merely covering for the far right base of religious fundamentalists.
A church spokesperson for the foreign chapters says no church members returned from Wuhan, China, from December thru January. This is an unsupported conclusory allegation inconsistent with the statement that the organization is incapable of knowing the whereabouts of its members. The government investigation of this aspect of the church's activities is ongoing. Given the circumstances, it is unlikely that this is true. In contrast to the New Yorker hit piece, the alternative explanation of the "failure" to contain the virus during the so called "golden period," was essentially the result of a pattern of acts, omissions, and misrepresentations by members and leaders of the Shincheonji cult which continues to conceal elements of their membership, their contacts among themselves, and their ties to the travelers from China who left before January 23 and arrived in South Korea before January 26.
Then there is this published in the Korea Times:
The Ministry of Justice said it checked the immigration records of around 245,000 Shincheonji followers at the request of the health authorities as the bulk of infections are linked to a branch church of the fringe sect in the southeastern city of Daegu.
Of the total Shincheonji followers, around 3,600 arrived here from China between July 1, 2019, and Feb. 27, 2020, the ministry said. Among them 42 traveled from the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
42 Shincheonji followers came to Korea from Wuhan over eight months
Korea Times updated : 2020-02-29 19:10
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2020/03/119_285338.html
The figure of 42 persons from the Wuhan chapter of Shincheonji returning to South Korea seems disproportionately low. Where are the rest of the 356 members? Of the eleven chapters of Sincheonji in China, the number of 356 members taken from a church document seems correct. 356 / 3600 is about 10 percent. But only 42 returned to South Korea?
Here is another late report demonstrating evasion of public health measures by Sincheonji followers:
A cluster of 46 Shincheonji related covid 19 cases was discovered March 8, at the the Han Maeum Apartments in Daegu. Two thirds of cases are Sincheonji members. The members had been meeting in three separate places ten people at at a time, spreading the infection. Two of the Shincheonji persons were confirmed cases who violated health regulations by not following directions from health officials to quarantine themselves. 9 of the cluster cases had to be hospitalized. Others were moved to an intermediate care center for quarantine, observation and treatment. (Source is MBC News, 3/8/20) The Daegu authorities had given notice that any Sincheonji who do not turn themselves in for examination by tomorrow will be prosecuted.
Daegu public health officials announced that their investigation of Shincheonji members as potential carriers of the Covid 19 virus was "95 percent complete." For the time being the rate of increase in the number of Daegu area corona virus cases seems to be slowing as shown by the graphic above. But for the Sincheonji cluster at the Maeum Apartment complex, the increase in cases today would have been significantly lower.
So out of 7,134 cases at the start of the day 3.8, cases related to Shincheonji clusters in Daegu and Gyeongbukdo, are 5.381 and 1,081 respectively. This is 90 percent of all cases in South Korea. The cases officially determined to be connected to the cult, directly or indirectly at this point by public health authorities is said to be 63 percent.
No comments:
Post a Comment