Seoul City Orders 10 Churches Violating Year-End and New Year Quarantine Rules to Suspend Gatherings

On the last day of the Christmas holiday, the 27th, Myeongdong Street in Jung-gu, Seoul is quiet due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Ten churches were issued assembly bans and fines for violating COVID-19 quarantine rules during the year-end and New Year period.

Seoul City announced on the 4th that it had taken such measures after conducting on-site inspections of 2,613 religious facilities in Seoul on three occasions: December 25 (Christmas), December 27, and January 3 of this year, and found 10 churches that did not comply with the quarantine rules.

Among the churches caught, seven exceeded the essential number of attendees for worship services (within 20 people), and the other three were caught conducting prohibited in-person worship services.

A Seoul city official said, "Most religious facilities cooperated well by following the year-end and New Year quarantine rules and holding non-face-to-face services on Christmas," adding, "Going forward, we will focus inspections on prayer centers, religious facilities located in basements, and facilities with many citizen reports, which have been relatively less inspected."

Seoul City also announced that it filed a claim for damages on December 31 against Seongseok Church in Gangseo-gu, where more than 250 confirmed cases emerged due to quarantine rule violations. A city official said, "Following the damages lawsuit, we will file a criminal complaint today (the 4th)."

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