Secretive Church At Center Of South Korea s Explosive Coronavirus Outbreak

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According to its website, followers must undergo six months of classes and complete a demanding written exam before "graduating" and joining the church. The church has denied previous reports by Christian news organizations describing it as a "brainwashing cult", calling those accusations "blatant lies" and a plot to rein in its expansion. All members work as "harvesters" tasked with courting new followers from other churches, dubbed "harvest fields", former members said.

Bookings for August and September suggest domestic guests are beginning to help hotels fill rooms, but South Korea coronavirus Koreans are also increasingly turning to camping for vacations. The airline industry has been hit especially hard. Already under pressure from the boycotts on travel to Japan, COVID-19 has only added to financial pressures on the industry, especially budget travel.

In several videos, Shin was shown calling members of the church forward during her sermons and then hitting them in the face, pulling and cutting their hair and throwing them to the ground. People have joined Grace Road Church and travelled to join the group in Fiji from all over the world.

But the government this week announced a return to stricter social distancing in Seoul and its environs. Indoor gatherings of more than 50 participants are banned, and outdoor events are capped at 100 people. Churches have been prohibited from holding in-person gatherings and spectators are banned from sporting events. While experts have commended South Korea's response as exemplary, and the public has generally followed virus prevention guidelines, cluster infections have emerged at defiant churches. The case of Sarang Jeil Church is reminiscent of an outbreak linked to Shincheonji, a minor religious sect based in the southern city of Daegu, South Korea's first major COVID outbreak, in February and March. The two churches customarily hold large gatherings where participants chant and pray in loud voices. Authorities have accused them both of failing to fully disclose members' identities to enable contact tracing and testing. The spread of the virus in Daegu was eventually reined in by South Korea's widespread testing and contact tracing.