Sect Is At Center Of A Surge Of Coronavirus Cases In South Korea

De CidesaWiki

The association of the church with the virus also caused alarm among some South Koreans because members have been known to hide their affiliation with the church in order to propagate the religion. Infections in four different South Korean church Korean provinces were linked to the church, according to South Korean authorities. The 88-year-old Lee told his followers in an internal message that the virus was the work of the devil "to stop the rapid growth of Shincheonji," according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. "Just like Job’s faith was tested, it is an attempt to destroy our progress," he wrote.

2,893: The number of Covid-19 cases reported in South Korea over the past 11 days alone, as reported by Yonhap News Agency, including 266 reported on Monday. South Korea has been viewed as one of the most successful countries in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s Covid-19 response—centered around extensive contact tracing, testing and self-isolation efforts—had kept case numbers low and curbed the previous Shincheonji church outbreak in the early days of the pandemic. South Korea’s successful response was also built on trust between the government and public, however, the Atlantic noted in May, underlining how the Sarang Jeil Church’s anti-government views have exacerbated the latest outbreak.

If the exercise led to more infections, it could exacerbate tension in an alliance already fraught with conflict over negotiations about sharing the burden of defense costs and recent threats by Trump to withdraw troops from South Korea. It could also lead the South Korean public to lose trust in their government’s handling of the pandemic, and to be more likely to take a negative view of the alliance. The reduction in scale, combined with the cancelation of a similar exercise earlier this year due to the pandemic, have also forced the allies to limit the scope of the exercise.