Health Authorities: "Shincheonji Believer Visited Wuhan Last January" (Update)

Since the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) occurred in Daegu, on the first Sunday, the 23rd of last month, the public health center's quarantine team is conducting disinfection work in front of the entrance of Shincheonji Daegu Church in Nam-gu, Daegu. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The quarantine authorities have revealed that they have identified that some Shincheonji followers in South Korea visited Wuhan last January.

On the afternoon of the 1st, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters stated in a briefing, "We are currently reviewing the entry and exit records of domestic Shincheonji followers through the Ministry of Justice," adding, "Although it is not yet confirmed, it appears that some domestic Shincheonji followers visited Wuhan, China, known as the epicenter of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), last January."

The Countermeasures Headquarters said, "We will conduct a more thorough investigation in the future to clarify the reasons why infections occurred within this core group."

The Shincheonji side has previously provided explanations regarding the entry of Chinese followers but has not commented on the departure of domestic followers to China. Shincheonji stated, "Since December last year until now, 88 Chinese followers have entered Korea, and among them, no Shincheonji followers from the Wuhan church in China have entered Korea." According to Shincheonji, out of the 88, 39 have returned to China, and 49 remain in Korea, residing in the Seoul and Gyeonggi areas.

The Ministry of Justice notified the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) yesterday of the entry and exit records from July 1 of last year to the 27th of this month for 244,743 Shincheonji followers. Upon verification, among 211,462 domestic followers, 3,572 were recorded as having entered Korea from China. Among all Chinese followers, 3,610 entered Korea from China during the same period, with 42 of them coming from Wuhan.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.