Some churches still insist on gathering worship. The city of Seoul today (4th) accused Sungseok Church in Gangseo-gu, which caused a group infection of 240 people. In Busan, it turned out that over 600 people gathered at a church yesterday to worship. This church has already violated the quarantine regulations for the 12th time.
This is reporter Lee Ga-hyuk.
[기자]
The first confirmed person at Sungseok Church came out on the 6th of last month.
So far, a total of 245 people, including pastors, church members, and families, have been confirmed.
This is the church in question.
If you look at the main gate, there is an iron gate, and inside there is a sticker with the name of the mayor of Gangseo-gu notifying the closure of the facility.
There are also stacked mails that appear to be days old.
If you look at the bulletin board, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has posted a poster stating “Please stop the religious assembly for a while” for publicity, but according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s investigation, it turned out that this church actually violated it.
There was a reason for the pile of infections.
Since mid-October last year, we held face-to-face revival meetings four times a week for seven weeks.
It violated the authorities’ order not to hold any other meetings other than essential services.
Some attendees did not even wear masks.
On the 31st of last month, the Seoul Metropolitan Government filed a lawsuit for damages against the church.
Today, I filed a criminal charge for violating the Infectious Disease Prevention Act.
A church in Seo-gu, Busan, also held a field service yesterday.
There are over 600 attendees.
An official from the church explained to the JTBC reporter, “Only 600 people attended the church with 5,000 seats, so there was no problem with distance, and we conducted face-to-face worship mainly for the elderly who have difficulty attending online.”
Social distancing step 2.5.
Violation of the quarantine rule not to gather more than 20 people.
This is not the first time to violate.
Earlier, the ward office caught 12 violations of the church’s quarantine regulations and filed criminal charges 7 times.
However, the facility has not been closed.
[부산 서구청 관계자 : 대면예배 상황을 방역수칙 위반으로 보고 시설(폐쇄) 명령이라는 행정처분도 또 할 수 있는 것인지 (질병청에) 질의해 놓은 상태입니다.]
More effective measures are needed to prevent dangerous face-to-face worship.
(Video Design: Lee Jeong-hoe)