Court Rejects Suspension Request for Closure Order of Sarang Jeil Church Facilities... "Public Welfare Needs Are Greater"

Sarang Jeil Church, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Sarang Jeil Church, which was ordered to close its facilities by a local government for violating COVID-19 quarantine guidelines, had its request to suspend the enforcement of the closure order rejected by the court.

The Administrative Court of Seoul, Administrative Division 14 (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-hoon) dismissed the Sarang Jeil Church’s application for suspension of the facility closure order filed against the Seongbuk District Office on the 26th.

In cases requesting suspension of the effect or enforcement of administrative dispositions, the Supreme Court’s position is that the court must determine whether it is necessary to suspend the effect or enforcement of the administrative disposition itself, rather than judging the legality of the administrative disposition itself.

The court stated, "It is presumed that due to the facility closure order in this case, the applicant church’s worship facilities are closed, prohibiting worship and church operations, which may cause damages that are impossible to compensate monetarily or damages that are socially intolerable or extremely difficult to endure with monetary compensation, that is, ‘irreparable harm’."

It continued, "Furthermore, considering that the closure period under this facility closure order is already underway and the church’s usual worship schedule, there is no time to wait for the main judgment to avoid such harm, so the urgent necessity to prevent irreparable harm is also recognized."

However, the court added, "However, when comprehensively considering the submitted evidence and the circumstances recognized through the hearing, it is judged that the necessity to uphold the public welfare to be achieved through this outweighs the disadvantages that may occur to the applicant."

Previously, Sarang Jeil Church had been ordered to suspend operations twice after continuing in-person worship services every Sunday despite the prohibition under the social distancing Level 4. Nevertheless, the church ignored these orders and continued in-person worship, resulting in a facility closure order on the 19th of this month.

At the hearing on the suspension application held the day before, Sarang Jeil Church emphasized that "facility closure is a serious infringement of fundamental rights" and urged the court to grant the suspension application.

The church’s legal representative argued, "The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s official conclusion is that there was no infection through in-person worship," and claimed, "In-person worship does not significantly affect public welfare." They also emphasized, "We will use self-test kits and QR codes and the Safe Code system to prevent unspecified individuals from entering the church."

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