Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’d know that South Korea isn’t in a good place right now in terms of the COVID-19.

For starters, the number of new confirmed cases of the coronavirus has been increasing every single day.

In fact, there have been new rationing policies for face masks put into place.

Majority of these cases have been linked to the notorious Shincheonji Church of Jesus secretive movement which follows the founder Lee Man-hee.

Unsurprisingly, this infamous church is in the news yet again:

More Than 1,500 Shincheonji Members with COVID-19 Refused to Treated Coz It’s ‘Against Their Beliefs’

According to Ibtimes, at least 1,777 members of the Shincheonji cult who tested positive for the COVID-19 have reportedly refused to receive treatment.

And this is even worse: another 1,000 of them are refusing to even be tested for the coronavirus.

The 1,777 Shincheonji members claim that receiving treatment is against their beliefs.

Daegu is the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea. Daegu administrators have warned that the members should be admitted and get treated for the virus.

It all began when the coronavirus outbreak in Daegu was traced to Patient 31, a Shincheonji believer. The patient had tested positive but attended church prayers alongside thousands of other believers not once, but at least twice.

The virus is understood to have spread from there.

Shincheonji Church Might Face Investigations For Murder

The situation in South Korea is so bad that Mr Park Won-son, who is the mayor of the capital Seoul, said that if Lee and other leaders of the church had worked together with them, the preventive measures might have saved those who later died of the virus.

Mr Park said in a Facebook post, “The situation is this serious and urgent, but where are the leaders of the Shincheonji, including Lee Man-hee, the chief director of this crisis?”

Health authorities also claimed that they were given a list of 317,320 Shincheonji members and “trainees”, but were informed that it wasn’t complete.

Seoul city’s government announced that it had filed a criminal complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office which asked for an investigation of Lee and 12 others on charges of murder and disease control act violations.

Shincheonji Church Founder Tried To Apologised But Got Criticised Due To His Gold Watch

Some have said that the church’s unconventional practices also contributed to the rapid spread of the disease.

For instance, worshippers were allegedly forbidden to wear glasses or face masks.

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This was due to one man, named Lee Man-hee, who is the church founder. He had called the coronavirus “an act of the devil who saw the rapid growth of Shincheonji and wants to destroy our advancement”.

He has been criticised for failing to do enough to stop the spread of the virus.

Later, he knelt before the nation on 2 March and apologised for the “calamity” he may have caused.

But that did not appease critics who found something else to criticise: his gold watch.

The gold-coloured watch was allegedly a gift by disgraced former President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached and jailed in 2017 for corruption and abuse of power.

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In short: it’s reportedly a shady af watch.

There was plenty of controversy and differing opinions with regards to the gold watch. One even pointed out that the watch might be a fake.

Lee Gun-yong, a former aide in Park’s presidential office, said on Facebook that Lee’s watch must be fake because Park’s office only made silver ones.

All we know for sure now is that someone needs to keep an eye on these Shincheonji members before the situation deteriorates even further.

If you would like to read more about the gold watch and the Shincheonji founder’s “heartfelt” apology, click here.

The Situation In South Korea

As of 8 March, the number of coronavirus cases in South Korea rose again on Sunday. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 93 new cases.

In total, there are 7,134 confirmed cases in the country. However, health officials have warned that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases will fluctuate as they await the results of even more COVID-19 tests.

And of course, not to mention those 1,000 jokers who refused to be tested.

Rationing System For Masks Each Person Can Buy

It was announced that from tomorrow onwards, South Korea will impose a rationing system to limit the number of masks each person can buy every week.

They also asked that the citizens “actively cooperate” so that healthcare workers and those who are sick, (aka those who genuinely need these medical supplies) can actually get their hands on these masks.

“Even if you feel inconvenient, I ask you to show a mature sense of civil awareness, based on concessions, consideration and cooperation so that people who really need face masks can buy them,” he said.

Kind of a deja vu feeling for us Singaporeans, but anyways.

Let’s pray for South Korea and we hope that the Shincheonji members will come to their senses and cooperate accordingly.