Seoul City Conducts On-Site Inspection of Shincheonji Corporation... Pushes Ahead with 'Corporation Cancellation' (Comprehensive)

Seoul COVID-19 Cases Increase by 10 to Total 130
7 New Cases in Dongdaemun-gu, 1 in Jung-gu
Seoul City to Hold District Mayors Meeting via Digital Citizen Market Office

City-District Joint Task Force Visits Shincheonji Seoul Headquarters
Receives Asset List and Member Roster
Shincheonji to Undergo Hearing Procedure on 13th

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] The Seoul Metropolitan Government made a sudden visit to the Shincheonji Seoul Headquarters to inspect its operational status. It is interpreted as a step toward forcibly canceling the corporation status of Shincheonji, whose official name is the "Saehanul Saettang Evidence Tabernacle Church Jesus Mission Association."

At around 9:40 a.m. on the 9th, a joint inspection team from Seoul City and Dongjak-gu visited the Shincheonji Seoul Headquarters located in a five-story building in Sadang-dong, Dongjak-gu, received documents related to its operations, and inspected the site. One executive from the Shincheonji Gwacheon National Assembly came out and handed over documents, but it is known that minutes of the assembly meetings, business plans, and income and expenditure ledgers were not submitted. Some of the obtained materials are expected to be used in the process of canceling Shincheonji's corporate status.

The office in question is the Seoul headquarters that Shincheonji has disclosed. It is one of the 170 locations listed in the ledgers submitted by Shincheonji, but it was not originally known as the Seoul headquarters. The address currently registered in Shincheonji's corporate registration is Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu. According to Seoul City, Shincheonji moved its office last year but did not carry out the change registration reflecting this fact within three weeks.

Seoul City judged that Shincheonji engaged in acts harmful to the public interest, such as submitting false member lists related to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), and is proceeding with the cancellation of permission under Article 38 of the Civil Act (Cancellation of permission for establishment of a corporation). A hearing for this is scheduled for the 13th. Shincheonji has not yet informed who will attend. If the corporation is canceled, Shincheonji will lose its status as a religious organization and fall into an informal group. It will also lose tax benefits.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Shincheonji was granted corporate status by Seoul City in November 2011 under the name "Eternal Gospel Jesus Mission Association." In April 2012, the current chairman Lee Man-hee was registered as the corporate representative, and in July of the same year, the name was changed to Saehanul Saettang Evidence Tabernacle Church Jesus Mission Association. Seoul City understands that this corporation oversees all Shincheonji churches nationwide and that no Shincheonji-related corporations are registered in other local governments besides Seoul. Kim Kyung-tak, head of the city's Cultural Policy Division, said, "We see that the legal obligations that must be complied with as a corporation have not been fulfilled," adding, "We will also examine whether there are omissions or duplications in the previously obtained materials."

Meanwhile, as of 10 a.m. on the same day, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Seoul was 130, an increase of 10 from the previous day. Seven cases were reported in Dongdaemun-gu, including four family members of a confirmed patient who worked at the same workplace as a confirmed patient in Gangnam-gu. Additionally, one more confirmed patient who was hospitalized at Seoul Baek Hospital without disclosing that they had lived in Daegu was added. Na Baek-ju, director of the Citizen Health Bureau, said, "(The Baek Hospital patient) showed symptoms of general weakness and digestive system issues, with almost no fever," adding, "This is different in nature from Shincheonji members lying or claiming to be Shincheonji members to get tested quickly in Gangnam in the past. We will verify the facts and report again."

Seoul City will strengthen support for the city's immediate response team to expand epidemiological investigation activities in autonomous districts. Previously, when a confirmed case occurred, the initial recognizing health center conducted a basic epidemiological investigation and reported to the city, after which the city epidemiologists conducted an in-depth investigation. From now on, the initial recognizing health center will immediately implement follow-up measures. In addition, technical support teams, data analysis teams, and expert advisory groups will be newly established and operated.

The city announced that it will expand the smart telecommuting infrastructure "SVPN (Smart Seoul Virtual Private Network)" in preparation for situations where government buildings may be closed. SVPN is an administrative system that supports online remote work and is a communication network security solution that encrypts internet lines. Currently, SVPN can accommodate 500 users, but its capacity will be significantly increased to accommodate up to 10,000 users.

The Digital Citizen Mayor's Office plans to use it for various meetings such as the general meeting of district mayors and meetings of heads of investment-funded institutions. Lee Won-mok, director of Smart City Policy, said, "We will proactively promote measures to minimize work gaps and effectively practice social distancing through the activation of telecommuting and remote meetings using smart technology."

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