"Patient No. 31, Additional Confirmation of Shincheonji Visit... Suspicion of False Statements (Update)"

Shincheonji Daegu Church
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Daegu City announced on the 13th that it confirmed signs of false statements made by the 31st confirmed patient of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in South Korea. This patient is a member of the Shincheonji Jesus Church in Daegu and was the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the Yeongnam region, including Daegu, and has been hospitalized for nearly two months for treatment.

At a regular briefing on the morning of the same day, Deputy Mayor Chae Hong-ho of Daegu said, "The 31st patient initially stated during the epidemiological investigation that they only visited the Shincheonji Daegu Church on February 9 and 16, but after reviewing CCTV footage, it was confirmed that they also visited on February 5," adding, "On February 16, contrary to their statement, it was found that they attended not only the worship service but also visited several other places."

◆ "Concealing movement routes judged as false statements"= The 31st patient tested positive on February 18 and reported during epidemiological investigations by quarantine authorities and Daegu City that they attended worship services at the Shincheonji Daegu Church on February 9 and 16. However, CCTV footage revealed additional visits to the 8th and 9th floors of the church on February 5. Deputy Mayor Chae explained, "The visit on February 5 was not for worship but a simple visit," and added, "From a quarantine perspective, this is judged as a false statement."

The patient also reported only visiting the 4th floor of the building where the worship service was held, but Daegu City's additional investigation revealed that after the worship on the 16th, the patient visited multiple locations within the building. Daegu City stated, "To verify whether the epidemiological investigation was obstructed or disrupted, CCTV footage will be sent to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency for use as reference material."

Lee Man-hee, President of Shincheonji Church of Jesus / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

◆ Chairman Lee Man-hee's trips to Daegu and Cheongdo in January= Daegu City conducted administrative investigations of the Shincheonji Daegu Church twice, on March 12 and 17, securing and analyzing related documents such as the church member list, CCTV footage, digital membership system records, 336 computer files, and 38 worship video files. During this process, it was also confirmed that Lee Man-hee, the chairman of Shincheonji, visited the Shincheonji Daegu Church on January 16 and Cheongdo, Gyeongbuk on January 17. Deputy Mayor Chae said, "Chairman Lee visited the Daegu church and held an event," adding, "Since the movement was brief, it is difficult to determine the exact purpose, but we plan to submit the data to quarantine authorities to assess its significance from a quarantine perspective."

Additionally, through digital forensics by the police, 1,877 church members who did not match or could not be verified against the 10,459 members submitted by Shincheonji for the Daegu church were identified. Lists of 211 unbaptized members from the Children's and Student Associations excluded from the Shincheonji member list, as well as 47 visitors to missionary churches (churches aimed at recruiting Shincheonji members' families and the general public, not registered in the Shincheonji system), were also secured.

Furthermore, eight facilities omitted from the 43 facilities list submitted by Shincheonji were identified through administrative investigations and tips, resulting in a total of 51 facilities being closed. Daegu City claimed, "When submitting the first set of data on February 22, the Shincheonji church only submitted 22 facilities, which is 43% of the total, and belatedly submitted 20 more on March 1," adding, "This caused confusion in prompt quarantine efforts." The city also stated that it plans to request additional police investigations regarding major violations identified through administrative investigations and intends to claim compensation based on the results.

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