As thousands of coronavirus/COVID-19 cases sweep the world, South Korea is in the top five countries with the greatest number of confirmed cases. Many of these Korean cases trace back to a religious group named Shincheonji, Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony.

South Korea now has over 8 thousand cases of COVID-19 with thousands of these cases coming from the Shincheonji religious group. With over 300,000 members worldwide, Shincheonji is a South Korean Christian group with many questionable beliefs. A few of these beliefs are that Shincheonji’s leader and founder, Lee Man-hee, is a prophet of Christ and that he is the only one who can interpret the Bible scriptures “correctly.” These beliefs ostracized Shincheonji from other Christian groups and many believe that the church is a cult.

Luke McGee from CNN describes the services with “members of the group congregat[ing] in a way that puts them in close contact with one another for long periods of time.” It’s now obvious how even one infected member attending service can cause thousands of others to contract the virus.

After this outbreak, thousands of Shincheonji members were quarantined and tested for COVID-19. McGee also writes that “The [Shincheonji] group said it ‘deeply regrets’ the outbreak which occurred at their Daegu branch, in a statement released online Friday 13, 2020. It said its ‘services, gatherings, and mission activity’ have been stopped and all its buildings are being sanitized.”

Recently, Lee Man-hee himself has apologized at a conference and the group offered 12 billion Won (about 10 million USD) to help fight the virus. The donation was declined and the apology was rejected. The group is now under fire from other Christians, municipal leaders, and millions of South Korean citizens who want the group disbanded and Lee Man-hee arrested for risking thousands of lives and being a key part in the spread of COVID-19.

by Kevin Lee