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  • 2020-08-20 (xsd:date)
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  • the Moon administration has used the government to slow and stop the spread of the virus (en)
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  • South Korea, once the world’s COVID-19 success story, is struggling with a sudden spike in coronavirus cases originating from a Seoul church.This new burst of patients has been linked to conservative pastor Rev. Jeon Kwang-hun’s Sarang Jeil Church (SJC) after one member was tested positive for the coronavirus on Aug. 12. Three days later the SJC members took part in a mass anti-government demonstration – despite being told by health officials to self-isolate.The South Korean Center for Disease Control reported that of 283 new cases on Aug. 19, 166 patients were either a part of the SJC or had come in contact with members of the church. It’s the worst surge since March.Officials fear that South Korea will see a repeat of the first large outbreak – also related to a church, the Sincheonji Church of Jesus. Although South Korea has received international praise for its response to the virus, health administrators are worried about the medical system ability to respond should the outbreak take hold and grow.Driving the concern is that the new SJC cluster is located in Seoul, which is home to a half of the country’s 51 million people and has 10 times more residents than the city of Daegu, where the Sincheonji church outbreak began. So far, a total of 623 recent cases have been linked to the SJC, authorities say, making it the largest single outbreak since the one from Sincheonji church. On Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020, protesters stage an anti-government rally in Seoul, South Korea. Among those present were members of a conservative church that was the origin of a new outbreak.More than 30,000 people participated in the protests on Aug. 15, Korea’s Independence Day, to demand that President Moon Jae-In step down. At the rally, the Rev. Jeon expressed doubt regarding the government’s response to the virus in religious communities and suggested there was a government plot to purposefully spread the virus. He asserted:Our church took every preventive measure (en)
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