"Stop the Second Eunhyeui Gang Church"... Lee Jae-myung Issues 'Church Gathering Restriction Order'

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, has finally issued an assembly restriction order against churches. This follows the agreement reached at the religious leaders' meeting on the 11th. Accordingly, Gyeonggi Province will immediately impose a complete ban on assemblies if churches within the province violate the COVID-19 prevention guidelines.

On the 17th, Governor Lee stated on Facebook, "While Gyeonggi Province was considering a full ban on religious assemblies, we accepted the Christian community's opinion that voluntary infection prevention measures were possible. Therefore, we postponed the administrative order on the condition that symptoms such as fever, cough, and sore throat are checked, hand sanitization, mask-wearing, maintaining a 2-meter distance, and disinfection of facilities before and after assemblies are observed. We also agreed to impose assembly restriction orders if these rules are violated." He lamented, "It has been reported that as many as 137 places forcibly held collective worship without following these rules."

He particularly expressed concern, saying, "Among the 265 infected people in Gyeonggi Province, 26%, that is more than a quarter of the total, 71 people, were infected through church gatherings," and added, "This already exceeds more than twice the number of 31 Shincheonji-related cases."

Furthermore, he added, "There were many concerns and conflicts between religious freedom and protecting the lives of citizens, but according to the Constitution, which allows restricting religious freedom within the scope that does not infringe on its essential content for the safety of citizens' lives, and the Infectious Disease Control Act, which permits restricting or banning assemblies for quarantine purposes, we have inevitably issued administrative orders restricting assemblies for churches violating the guidelines."

Governor Lee also said, "Germany is also implementing a full ban on religious assemblies," and asked for understanding of this measure, considering the large-scale outbreak of 47 confirmed cases at Eunhyeui Gang Church, which violated assembly rules.

In addition, he stated, "For churches violating the recommended guidelines, we are adding prohibitions on group meals within the church and requiring the recording and retention of participants' personal information by time slot. If these are not followed, church assemblies will be banned," emphasizing, "If the assembly restriction order is violated, we will take all measures including criminal punishment under relevant laws, claiming quarantine costs related to infections caused by the violation, and immediate full assembly bans."

Governor Lee concluded, "This is a crisis where everyone is suffering and facing threats to life due to COVID-19," and proposed, "Let's share the pain little by little."

Earlier, right after holding a meeting with religious leaders in the province on the 11th, Governor Lee said in an emergency briefing, "We will temporarily hold off on the full ban on assembly worship services that we have been promoting to block the spread of COVID-19, but if the set standards such as worshiping while maintaining a distance of more than 2 meters are not followed, we will issue administrative orders to restrict assembly worship services."

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