The leaders of a shadowy South Korean church linked to the country’s coronavirus outbreak say their members are now being persecuted.

The controversial Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which many mainstream churches consider a cult, has hundreds of members who have tested positive for the coronavirus after congregants traveled to the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus broke out in December.

Now, as more than 6,000 people have become infected with COVID-19 in the country and over 40 have died, church leaders said in a Wednesday statement that their members have been ruthlessly targeted.

“The witch hunt against Shincheonji Church of Jesus is carried to an extreme, and now that this has incited domestic violence and persecution, leading to the death of one of our congregants, we cannot but express our position,” they wrote.

“This is our earnest request. Please stop the curse and hatred towards Shincheonji. And we ask some media outlets that are slandering and suppressing Shincheonji using unconfirmed information and fake news to stop immediately.”

One congregant in the city of Ulsan “faced violence and persecution by her husband” — and she took her own life on Feb. 26, according to the leaders.

“This congregant of the Ulsan Church had been suffering from domestic violence because of her affiliation with Shincheonji, and shortly before her death, she was assaulted for religious reasons and reported it to the police,” the leaders said.

“Eight days after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a death was caused by religious persecution.”

The church leaders also rejected claims that it had been intentionally hiding a full list of their 245,605 congregants — saying that though they were initially fearful of repercussions, they shared the information with health authorities as asked.

“We are deeply sorry for infections caused by some congregants who were hesitant to reveal their affiliation with Shincheonji at first,” the leaders wrote.

“But as big-name politicians and media outlets were criticizing Shincheonji severely day after day, even calling it the epicenter of the virus, there must have been many who were afraid to say that they are Shincheonji members. We ask for your understanding once again.”

A report early this week revealed that founder Lee Man-hee and other church leaders could face a murder probe for allegedly dangerous health behavior.

“Please remember that we, Shincheonji Church of Jesus, are also victims of COVID-19,” the leaders wrote. “We promise to exert our utmost efforts in cooperating with the health authorities and local governments to bring the COVID-19 epidemic to an end as soon as possible.”