On the 7th, in front of Seegero Church in Gangseo-gu, Busan, believers are protesting the non-face-to-face worship measures of the quarantine authorities. yunhap news
Some churches in Seoul and Busan are ignoring the local government’s guidelines and warnings for non-face-to-face worship for the prevention of Corona 19, and are causing controversy. Busan City said on the 10th, “As a result of the inspection of religious facilities, it was found that the two churches, Seegero Church and West Church, violated the quarantine rules and conducted face-to-face worship. Non-face-to-face worship is a principle in Busan, where the social distancing step 2.5 was applied. However, meetings of less than 20 people required for online worship are allowed. On this day, 1090 people attended the meeting at Seegero Church in Gangseo-gu, Busan, with a total of 3,500 members. On the 7th, more than 250 people, including pastors and church members from 17 metropolitan cities, provinces, and 226 cities, counties, and gus across the country gathered and held a meeting calling for participation in in-person worship. In the last 6th and 3rd in-person worship, 300 and 1,000 people attended, respectively. The city of Busan accused the church of violating the Infectious Disease Prevention and Management Act six times. The police also recently turned the case over to the prosecution in the opinion of the prosecution. The Gangseo-gu Office issued a first warning to the church, which officially rejected the quarantine guidelines on the 8th, and suspended the church on the 10th. On the 11th, if facilities are inspected and violations of quarantine guidelines such as face-to-face worship are detected, an order to close the facilities will be issued. An official from the church said, “The religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution is being violated. In keeping with social distancing, they are applying unfair quarantine rules and not fairness.” The West Church, which received an administrative order from the Seo-gu Office on the 7th to suspend the facility operation, also held a face-to-face service with 560 members gathered on that day. Earlier, the West issued a first warning on December 30 last year when this church ignored the quarantine guidelines and continued in-person worship, and decided to suspend operations on the 7th. The West is planning to issue an order to close the church’s facilities on the 11th. In Seoul, the Geumcheon-gu Jesus Vision Holiness Church held a face-to-face service. This church was ordered to ban the gathering for violating the quarantine rules, but on the first Sunday after the ban on gatherings, which had been held until the last 4th, was held, 78 people attended in-person worship. An official in Geumcheon-gu said, “We are going to decide on reconsideration etc. in consultation with Seoul city.” Pastor Ahn Amugae, who was discharged from the hospital on the 2nd after receiving a confirmation of Corona 19 last month, insisted that he would file an administrative lawsuit against the government together with the Church in the world, saying that the order of the quarantine authorities to prohibit gatherings was’political quarantine’ and’church oppression’. have. By Kim Young-dong and Park Tae-woo, staff reporters [email protected]