‘Worship Fact Concealment’ Sunbokum Daejeon Woori Church Pastor and Congregants Reported

Citizens are undergoing diagnostic tests at the public health center's screening clinic. The photo is unrelated to the article. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] A pastor and two church members in Daejeon have been reported for obstructing epidemiological investigations by quarantine authorities. This church was also the site of the first church-related cluster infection in Daejeon.

On the 8th, Daedeok-gu, Daejeon announced that it had reported the pastor and two church members of the Full Gospel Daejeon Woori Church (located in Birae-dong, Daedeok-gu) to the Daedeok Police Station on charges of violating the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act.

According to the district, the pastor and others at the church are suspected of not cooperating with the epidemiological investigation by hiding the fact that they held an in-person worship service on the 16th of last month.

In particular, Pastor A, who was confirmed as patient number 259 in Daejeon, attended a prayer meeting held in Incheon on the 15th of last month and, despite having symptoms such as fever the next day, forcibly held the weekend worship service on the 16th.

As a result, among the 25 attendees of the worship service, 9 were additionally confirmed positive, and the district believes this led to 11 secondary infections through them.

Furthermore, Pastor A took no action despite knowing that his wife was confirmed positive in Incheon (patient number 88 in Gyeyang-gu) and that two church members (patients 194 and 211) were infected with COVID-19.

The two church members are also suspected of hiding the fact that they attended the worship service on the 16th during the epidemiological investigation.

Park Jeong-hyun, head of Daedeok-gu Office, said, “Considering the very serious current situation with social distancing level 2 in effect, we urge residents to refrain from going out and gathering, and to comply with quarantine rules both individually and collectively,” adding, “The district will strive to protect the health and safety of residents.”

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