Sarangjeil Church "Jung Sye-kyun, Park Neung-hoo, etc. Accused... Abuse of Authority and Coercion Charges"

On the afternoon of the 23rd, church officials and legal representatives held a press conference in front of Sarang Jeil Church in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, urging the government to withdraw the ban on worship services and condemning Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo.

The legal team representing Sarang Jeil Church in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, which is at the center of the mass infection incident, announced on the 23rd that they will file a complaint with the prosecution against Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, Acting Mayor of Seoul Seo Jeong-hyeop, Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo, and Chief of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Jang Ha-yeon.

The legal team claimed that Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and Acting Mayor Seo Jeong-hyeop, among other quarantine authorities, "illegally collected personal information and location data from mobile phones around Gwanghwamun on August 15 and then forced certain citizens to undergo disease testing," arguing that this constitutes a violation of the Personal Information Protection Act as well as abuse of authority and coercion under criminal law.

They stated that Minister Park Neung-hoo’s complete ban on worship services and face-to-face gatherings at all churches in the metropolitan area amounts to abuse of authority, coercion, and obstruction of worship.

Regarding Chief Jang Ha-yeon of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the legal team criticized the search and seizure conducted on the 21st to obtain the church member list. They claimed that the police focused on confiscating items related to Pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon and, in particular, illegally seized mobile phones without the presence of Pastor Jeon’s legal counsel.

The legal team also condemned President Moon Jae-in’s remarks on the 21st, in which he mentioned "public authority" and ordered a tough response to the quarantine non-cooperation by Sarang Jeil Church and others, describing it as "sinister communist totalitarianism," and demanded that decisions be made strictly according to the constitution and laws entrusted to them.

Furthermore, they criticized Future United Party floor leader Joo Ho-young, who in an interview with a media outlet the previous day said about Pastor Jeon, "We cannot forgive reckless acts against the common good and he must pay the price," stating, "We can no longer expect anything from a political group that clings to hollow approval ratings and values their own interests over the human rights of the people."

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