Tracking Sarangjeil Church Members via 'Telecommunication Base Stations'

A Large Portion of the List Submitted by Sarangjeil Church is False
Health Authorities Conduct Comparison Using Telecom Base Station Data
Information Requested According to Infectious Disease Act Article 76-2

Senior Pastor Jeon Gwang-hoon of Sarang Jeil Church, who was indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act, is responding to reporters' questions as he enters the courtroom for the first trial held on the 29th at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Regarding Seoul Sarang Jeil Church, where COVID-19 cases are surging, it has been revealed that a significant portion of the church member list initially submitted by the church contained false entries. As a result, health authorities have decided to utilize base station connection data from the three major telecom companies.

Similar to the Itaewon club infection case, Sarang Jeil Church has not cooperated with health authorities' measures, prompting authorities to track contacts based on telecom companies' communication data. Accordingly, the three mobile carriers?SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus?plan to submit lists of individuals connected to base stations near Sarang Jeil Church in Seongbuk-gu to the government.

On the 19th, according to Seoul city and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health authorities recently requested the three telecom companies to identify visitors to Sarang Jeil Church in Seongbuk-gu using base station data. The list includes those connected to about ten base stations around the church from the 7th to the 13th, which were part of the main routes of confirmed COVID-19 patients.

A Seoul city official explained, "There are many people missing or newly added in the data received from Sarang Jeil Church," adding, "We are conducting a comparison process to finalize the list and requested the telecom companies to submit base station data as soon as possible to ensure accuracy."

In fact, Seoul city is struggling to secure a list of church visitors between the 7th and 13th, a period presumed to have many high-risk individuals, because many addresses in the initial list (4,066 people) submitted by Sarang Jeil Church are unclear, and there are many false or missing entries.

According to Article 76, Paragraph 2 of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act, the head of a police station who receives a request from the Minister of Health and Welfare or a local government head may request location information of infectious disease patients or suspected cases from telecommunications operators. The telecom operators must comply unless there is a legitimate reason not to.

During the mass infection outbreak originating from Itaewon in May, Seoul city also obtained and submitted to health authorities the names and phone numbers of 10,905 individuals connected to nearby base stations through the three telecom companies.

However, it is currently uncertain whether the government will request telecom base station data for attendees of the Gyeongbokgung Station rally on the 8th or the Gwanghwamun rally on the 15th. Given that these are far-right anti-government protests, the political burden is significant, and high-risk individuals can be primarily identified through the Sarang Jeil Church visitor list. A health authority official stated, "To obtain information on rally participants through telecom data, a decision at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters level is required, so further discussion is needed."

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