Q&A on Shincheonji Church of Jesus
Regarding the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) I
□
On donating 12 billion won
As
a church that produced a high count of confirmed cases, the Shincheonji Church
of Jesus feels a deep sense of responsibility on the tumultuous developments
regarding COVID-19. And to help fight the COVID-19 crisis, the church had
donated 12 billion Korean won (10 million US dollars) to Community Chest Korea
towards on 5 March.
The
funds for donation was not collected by congregation members but came from the
church finance. As Chairman Man Hee Lee had stated during the press conference,
the church will not spare any efforts in supporting human and capital
resources.
However,
6 March, the Community Chest Korea requested to return the donated funds for
the negative public sentiment against Shincheonji Church of Jesus put a burden
on spending the church's donation.
We
convey our sincere regret and apologies to the Korean people. The church will
commit to placing the donation so that it reaches where help is needed.
The
church has also spent days focusing hard on finding a location appropriately
equipped for a treatment center for patients with a mild case of COVID-19 in
Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do area. We will make all possible efforts to provide a
facility and help relieve the strain on hospitals. We hope these efforts will
allow hospitals to reopen more room for, and give patients in critical
conditions and patients waiting for admitted treatment the much-needed care.
□ About the watch that the chairman, Man Hee Lee, wore to the 2
March press conference
□
About claims that the chairman named the Saenuri Party
The Chairman did
not create the name Saenuri Party, nor did he make such a statement.
□ About submitting the list
Officials from the KCDC (Korea Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention) and Gyeonggi-do government visited the
headquarters office of Shincheonji Church on 25 February, and IT experts
themselves retrieved data directly from the server. They also checked the
search queries. The KCDC downloaded the data of 212,324 congregation members in
Korea into two files, one file for students and children (16,680) and one file
for the rest (195,644), which they stored on a USB thumb drive. On 26 February,
the list of the congregation overseas was provided in the same method.
The Gyeonggi-do government acquired this
information:
1) a list of the church members who have
their address in Gyeonggi-do,
2) church members who were at Daegu Church
either on the 9th or 16th of February,
3) church members who were at Gwacheon Church
on 16 February.
And on 27 February, Gyeonggi-do obtained
additional data on 1,074 people with missing contact information from the
initial list of 33,582. Most of those 1,074 were students and children, and the
church provided the contact information of their parents and family members.
Gyeonggi-do government officials also brought IT personnel to extracted data
from the church server and checked search queries.
When the KCDC send the list to respective
local governments, they sort the list by address. However, Shincheonji Church
of Jesus categorizes congregation member data by church and tribe rather than
the place of residence. Inevitably, when a local government requests a roster of
the congregation to a Shincheonji Church in their area, it would not perfectly
match the list sent from the KCDC. Also, there are cases where a person's
address information in the church records would be different from the current
address. Later, to resolve complications, the headquarters resubmitted a full
list with additional details, including attending church, tribe, and member
group.
Per the request of the KCDC, the headquarters
provided a list of students on 27 February. For students without contact number
and address, the name and contact information of the evangelists assigned to
those students were attached to the student information. Meanwhile,
congregation member data from Gwangju Church and the Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do
region was provided in realtime upon request of respective local governments.
On 5 March, after
allegations that the data previously provided by the church had omissions and
discrepancies, officials from the center in charge of infectious disease
response at the KCDC joined by forensic analysis experts from the Supreme
Prosecutor's Office visited the church headquarters office for an
administrative investigation. The administrative investigation was to verify
data and whether it matched the submitted lists, and the officials acquired the
full list of congregation members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, all students,
church properties including church buildings and annexes, the list of all
people who have attended service during January and February, and student
attendance records of mission centers.
Controlling
and preventing infectious diseases is a serious matter which is directly
related to the health of people and may cause social anxiety from concerns of
infection. The church is assisting in thorough investigation and diagnosis
following the instructions of the health department. Also, church members are
vigilantly following the process of admission, treatment, or self-quarantine,
depending on the results of testing and epidemiological investigations, in
hopes of minimizing the possibility of community-acquired infection.
□ On church buildings,
annexes, and other facilities
The 1,100 churches and annex facilities that
Shincheonji Church of Jesus disclosed to the public is the sum of all churches,
offices, education halls, gathering spaces, mission centers, mission churches,
cultural spaces, seminar rooms, and student halls in Korea. The properties
reported to the General Assembly included land unsuitable for public
gatherings, plots reserved for parking space, storages, and buildings owned or
leased by individuals. And the total number 1,529 reported indicates the number
of organs holding property, not the number of estates. When it comes to real
estate properties, the church does not control property information from a
single administrative system, but rather, respective branch churches would send
files separately when reporting their properties. To follow up on the claims
that some addresses were incorrect, omitted, or outdated and already closed,
the church staff doublechecked the address information. As a result, the church provided a list of all
church properties including vacant land, storages, homes, dorms, and properties
owned or leased by individuals totaling 1,903.
(As of the end of
January 2020)
Coming UP next~
#shincheonji #covid-19# coronavirus
The facts speak for themselves and the truth will prevail. The world will soon know the truth about Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Thank you for this article.
답글삭제People of Shincheonji in the midst of hard times absolutely overcome well. And The truth about Shincheonji necessarily reveals all over the world. Cheer up.
답글삭제I hope everyone will have a good day soon.
답글삭제The truth will come out. Cheer up!
I want the coronavirus to dissappear as soon as possible, and I want everyone to regain happiness and hope. Cheer up!
답글삭제I hope that coronavirus will disappear quickly everywhere in the world.
답글삭제いろいろと大変な時を過ごしている最近、もっと頑張って欲しい。真実は必ず勝ちます。
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