An article entitled 'South Korea church hit by COVID-19 says members to give plasma for research' was published by Today Online and Jakarta Post on 23rd and 24th June 2020, respectively. This is the article in full.
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SEOUL - Around 4,000 recovered COVID-19 patients from a religious group at the centre of South Korea's largest outbreak will donate plasma for research, an official said on Tuesday, a day after local officials filed a lawsuit against the church.
In February and March, a massive outbreak among members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus made South Korea the scene of the first large outbreak outside of China.
At least 5,213 of the country's total 12,484 cases have been linked to the church outbreak, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
Church founder Lee Man-hee had internally advised recovered members to donate their plasma, which is badly needed for coronavirus research, Shincheonji media coordinator Kim Young-eun told Reuters on Tuesday.
Many of recovered church members wanted to donate to express thanks to the government and medical staff, she said.
The city of Daegu - where most of the church infections were centered - filed a civil lawsuit against the church on Monday, seeking 100 billion won ($82.75 million) in damages.
Daegu authorities had previously filed a complaint against the church accusing it of not submitting a full list of members and facilities, and not cooperating with city health efforts.
Shincheonji says it fully complied with government efforts.
The National Institute of Health said 185 people have so far come forward to donate plasma as of Monday and said they were in talks with Shincheonji for donations.
South Korea health officials have said that in the absence of other treatments or vaccines, plasma therapy may be a way to lower the death rate, especially in critical patients.
At least 17 South Koreans have received the experimental therapy, which involves using plasma from recovered patients with antibodies to the virus, enabling the body to defend against the disease.
South Korea has reported 281 deaths from COVID-19.
Health authorities said they were testing 176 people who came into contact with crew members on a Russian fishing vessel docked at Busan after 16 aboard the vessel were tested positive.
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The callous scapegoating of Shincheonji Church by media outlets and politicians - fuelled by the Protestant church - that included leaking of personal information to the public, has led to severe persecution and the deaths of at least three Shincheonji Church members. In response, prominent international human rights and religious freedoms organisations including the U.S Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), leading academics and international religious figures including Imams and priests have denounced fake news and human rights abuses against Shincheonji Church members. Democrats in South Korea are currently drafting amendments to existing legislation on journalistic ethics and standards to eradicate the media's free rein to publish news without fact-checking.
As evidenced through today's article, Shincheonji Church continues to fully comply with government authorities and has published its response to all allegations during the COVID-19 pandemic:-
“This is our earnest request: please stop the cursing and hatred towards Shincheonji. And we ask some media outlets that are slandering and suppressing Shincheonji using unconfirmed information and fake news to stop immediately.”
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Main Reference
South Korea church hit by COVID-19 says members to give plasma for research (Today Online 23/06/2020)▶https://bit.ly/3dxDTup
South Korea church hit by COVID-19 says members to give plasma for research (Jakarta Post 24/06/2020)▶https://bit.ly/2CBY5if
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Global News Reports on Shincheonji Church (COVID-19)
Lies regarding the Coronavirus about Shincheonji 신천지 (03/03/2020)
Quarantine Official: "Confirmed case of COVID-19 in Daegu had existed before ‘patient 31’" (Daum News 22/03/2020)
Quarantine Official: "Confirmed case of COVID-19 in Daegu had existed before ‘patient 31’" (Naver 22/03/2020)
Shincheonji Church of Jesus in S. Korea Responds To What It Believes Are Erroneous Media Reports (Cision PR Newswire, 01/03/2020) ▶https://prn.to/3hDu3uo
"Shincheonji didn't lie about membership figures." (The Korea Herald 17/03/2020)
'Shincheonji members who survived COVID-19 volunteer en masse to aid vaccine development' (Religion News Service 26/06/2020)▶https://religionnews.com/2020/06/26/shincheonji-members-who-survived-covid-19-volunteer-en-masse-to-aid-vaccine-development/
South Korea church hit by COVID-19 says members to give plasma for research (Today Online 23/06/2020)▶https://bit.ly/3dxDTup
South Korea church hit by COVID-19 says members to give plasma for research (Jakarta Post 24/06/2020)▶https://bit.ly/2CBY5if
Official COVID-19 Response by Shincheonji Church of Jesus
•0307 Chairman Man Hee Lee asks "all congregants to fully cooperate for disease control" in a special announcement
•0302 Statement at Press Conference of Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding COVID-19
•0302 Regarding COVID-19 Testing of Chairman Lee, Man-hee of Shincheonji Church of Jesus
•0301 Letter of Appeal to Political Leaders
•0228 Letter of Appeal from Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Regards to COVID-19
•0226 Shincheonji Church of Jesus Provided a List of All Members to Public Health Authorities
•0223 Statement of Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding COVID-19
•0222 Over 1000 Shincheonji Church of Jesus Locations Disinfected and Closed Down in Korea
•0221 Shincheonji Church of Jesus Closed Down Its Churches and Affiliated Buildings from 18 Feb
•0220 Statement of Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding COVID-19 Countermeasures and Fake News
•0219 Statement of Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
•0218 Notice on the Worship Service of Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Regards to COVID-19
COVID-19/Fact Checker: Q&A on Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
Personal Blog
Wow, that's awesome! Is this is the only country doing plasma therapy? I haven't heard of it before, but I'm not a medical expert.
ReplyDeleteI somehow think that all this slander against Shincheonji could've been avoided by members not hiding their affiliation in the first place. I'm also not in Korea, but why do people hide that they are in the church then their family flips out when finding out? Like how do you hide that info from your spouse? I don't understand.
Agreed - the life of a Shincheonji Church member would be so much easier openly declaring his or her beliefs. But doing so often leads to serious human rights abuses. Let me share some background with you. Since 2005, Protestant pastors who belong to the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) have initiated and implemented a programme called ‘coercive conversion’, which predominantly targets Shincheonji Church members. Coercive conversion involves pastors deceiving parents/spouses into believing their loved one has joined a ‘cult’ and must be taken out through any means possible. So, in return for monetary payment, parents are duped by conversion pastors into drugging and abducting their loved one to a remote location - usually a Protestant church or rented lodgings - for a period of weeks or months where the victim is often subjected to psychological and physical abuse until they consent to receiving ‘conversion education’ and renouncing their faith. In the last ten years, there have been roughly 1500 cases of forced conversion in Korea committed against Shincheonji Church members.
DeleteThe harsh consequences of openly declaring one's belonging to Shincheonji have also been made evident amid the current pandemic. The media and politicans' callous scapegoating of Shincheonji Church that followed 'patient 31' on February 18th 2020 - fuelled by the Protestant Church's vested interests in power and authority - has resulted in the leakage of Shincheonji Church members' personal information that led to c.7000 members being openly discriminated at work, forced out of their studies or, in at least three cases, being killed by their own family members for their religious affiliation. In Korea, the mere mention of ‘Shincheonji’ can lead to instant panic and fear and severe abuses. Korean law does little to nothing to protect religious minorities.
It can be difficult to imagine that this is happening in a country as advanced and 'democratic' as the Republic of Korea, which 'recognises' freedom of religion within its constitution, but this is all true.
I hope this helps you understand who difficult it is for Shincheonji Church members in Korea (and abroad) to openly declare their beliefs.
Yet as Shincheonji Church members, we hold on to our faith in spite of this difficulty because of the certain hope we have in seeing God’s promise recorded in the Bible come to pass in our times today. It is because of our hope that we persevere through all this hardship. I hope this helps put everything into context😊
I pray that the corona cure was made quickly and now I can get out of this difficulty.
ReplyDelete