COVID-19 Factchecker (Shincheonji Church of Jesus)
In light of the sharp increase in confirmed cases of Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) throughout South Korea following confirmed diagnosis of ‘patient 31’, who was a congregation member of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, news agencies have been continuing to publish slanderous reports based on hearsay, and not on factual evidence. The press asserts that Shincheonji Church of Jesus intentionally withheld information from health and government authorities and reported untruthfully. Let's examine such claims objectively.
Claim: “Patient 31” refused to be tested for COVID-19
False. According to the recounts of the patient, the patient was admitted to Saeronan Korean Medicine Hospital on 7 February, and developed cold symptoms after receiving I.V. fluid with the window open. Fever started around the 9th, and the patient was diagnosed with pneumonia on the 14th. However, the medical staff at the hospital never mentioned COVID-19. On the 17th, blood test results indicated a worsened case of pneumonia. Then, the healthcare workers suggested the patient transfer to a bigger hospital and test for COVID-19 as well. The patient called the local public health office in Suseong District, where she was tested and confirmed positive.
Claim: Shincheonji Church of Jesus doesn't cooperate with the government
False. Officials from the KCDC (Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Gyeonggi Provincial Government visited the headquarters office of Shincheonji Church on 25 February, and IT experts themselves retrieved data directly from the server. They also checked the search queries. The KCDC downloaded the data of 212,324 congregation members in Korea into two files; one file for students and children (16,680) and one file for the rest (195,644), which they stored on a USB thumb drive. On 26 February, the list of the congregation overseas was provided in the same method.
Gyeonggi Provincial Government acquired this information:
1) a list of the church members who have their address in Gyeonggi province
2) church members who were at Daegu Church either on the 9th or 16th of February
3) church members who were at Gwacheon Church on 16 February
And on 27 February, Gyeonggi Provincial Government obtained additional data on 1,074 people with missing contact information from the initial list of 33,582. Most of those 1,074 were students and children, and the church provided the contact information of their parents and family members. Gyeonggi Provincial Government officials also brought IT personnel to extract data from the church server and checked search queries.
When the KCDC sent the list to respective local governments, they sort the list by address. However, Shincheonji Church of Jesus categorises congregation member data by church and tribe rather than the place of residence. Inevitably, when a local government requests a roster of the congregation to a Shincheonji Church in their area, it would not perfectly match the list sent from the KCDC. Also, there are cases where a person's address information in the church records would be different from the current address. Later, to resolve complications, the headquarters resubmitted a full list with additional details, including attending church, tribe, and member group.
As per the request of the KCDC, the headquarters provided a list of students on 27 February. For students without contact number and address, the name and contact information of the evangelists assigned to those students were attached to the student information. Meanwhile, congregation member data from Gwangju Church and the Daegu-Gyeongbuk regions was provided in realtime upon the request of respective local governments.
On 5 March, after allegations that the data previously provided by the church had omissions and discrepancies, officials from the center in charge of infectious disease response at the KCDC joined by forensic analysis experts from the Supreme Prosecutor's Office visited the church headquarters office for an administrative investigation. The administrative investigation was to verify data and whether it matched the submitted lists, and the officials acquired the full list of congregation members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, all students, church properties including church buildings and annexes, the list of all people who have attended service during January and February, and student attendance records of mission centers.
Controlling and preventing infectious diseases is a serious matter which is directly related to the health of people and may cause social anxiety from concerns of infection. The church is assisting in thorough investigation and diagnosis following the instructions of the health department. Also, church members are vigilantly following the process of admission, treatment, or self-quarantine, depending on the results of testing and epidemiological investigations, in hopes of minimizing the possibility of community-acquired infection.
A more extensive Q&A can be found here⇨http://enblog.shincheonji.kr/p/covid-19-fact-checker.html
Although it is unfair to pin Shincheonji Church of Jesus as the cause of the rise in COVID-19 in South Korea, 89 year old Chairman Lee pled for forgiveness from the Korean people at a press conference held on March 2nd 2020⇨http://bit.ly/2vuDLMk
The current COVID-19 epidemic is an unexpected and unwanted crisis, of which the congregation members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus are some of its biggest victims. Very recently on February 26th, one congregation member in Ulsan who had been suffering severe domestic abuse by her husband because of her affiliation to the church (which she had previously reported to the police), took her own life. Shincheonji Church of Jesus will continue to exert its utmost effort in cooperating with health and government authorities to bring this crisis to an end as quickly as possible. My prayer is that all South Koreans and people throughout the world work together to overcome this crisis.
COVID-19 Response of Shincheonji Church of Jesus
Official Announcements from 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▶http://enblog.shincheonji.kr/2020/03/0218-notice-on-worship-service-of.html
COVID-19/Fact Checker: Q&A on Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
4 comments
Thank you so much for sharing
ReplyDeleteThank you for the insight.
ReplyDeleteWow. I never knew about this :O I'm glad that I can clear up all the rumours haha
ReplyDeleteThe more I read these articles, the more I feel that people seem to be not interested in the truth. Only find provocative things. Truth is not interested in them. Thank you for writing a good article, noah.
ReplyDelete