Jeonju City Launches Support Team for Non-Face-to-Face Online Religious Activities

Operation Targeting 1,360 Religious Facilities Until the 25th of Next Month

Photo by Jeonju City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Tae-in] Jeonju City in Jeollabuk-do has launched an Online Religious Activity Support Team to help religious facilities conduct worship services, masses, and Buddhist ceremonies through non-face-to-face online videos.

On the 26th, the city announced that it will operate the ‘Jeonju City Online Religious Activity Support Team’ for one month until the 25th of next month to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The team will provide guidance on operation and equipment installation methods and support education to enable online religious activities at religious facilities in the Jeonju area.

This is a follow-up measure by Jeonju City, which raised the COVID-19 quarantine level to ‘Social Distancing Level 2’ starting from the 23rd, to encourage online gatherings at religious facilities.

The city plans to provide guidance through a call center so that non-face-to-face religious activities can be conducted on platforms such as KakaoTV, Naver Band, and YouTube using simple equipment like smartphones, webcams, lapel microphones, and tripods at 1,360 religious facilities. For religious facilities without their own online systems, the city plans to make direct calls to facilitate their use.

Additionally, an ‘Online Religious Activity User Guide,’ including app download and execution methods, online broadcasting, and viewing instructions, is made easily accessible on the Jeonju City website.

Along with this, the city plans to conduct on-site training twice daily until the 3rd of next month at the Jeonju City Hall Informatization Training Center and the Jeonbuk Smart Media Center for religious organization operators. The on-site training will be conducted in small groups limited to 10 people per session.

Furthermore, the city will provide information about a Ministry of Science and ICT project that supports up to 50GB of smartphone data per month for religious organizations with fewer than 200 members to facilitate online religious activities.

Prior to this, on the 20th, the city held a meeting with representatives from the four major religious groups?Christianity, Buddhism, Catholicism, and Won Buddhism?to raise the quarantine level at religious facilities to the highest standard and requested a complete ban or restraint on unnecessary private face-to-face meetings.

Mayor Kim Seung-su said, “The cooperation of religious facilities is crucial to curb the rapid spread of COVID-19 following the Liberation Day holiday,” and urged, “We ask religious facilities, including the four major religions, to conduct non-face-to-face religious gatherings with a sincere heart to protect your family and neighbors, and to temporarily refrain from various small meetings and meals.”

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