Seoul, South Korea
AP
South Korean prosecutors on Friday questioned the leader of a secretive church sect over accusations it hampered the government’s anti-virus response after thousands of COVID-19 infections were detected among its members in February and March.
Lee Man-hee, the 88-year-old chairman of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, was questioned for about four hours at a district prosecutors’ office in Suwon, south of Seoul, before being sent home after he complained about unspecified health problems, prosecution and church officials said. Hwang Seong-hyeon, a prosecutor in Suwon, said his office plans to summon Lee again for further questioning over the possibility that the church violated the country’s infectious disease law.
Lee and other Shincheonji leaders have faced suspicions of hiding some of the church’s membership and under-reporting its worship activities to health authorities to avoid broader quarantines. Prosecutors last week arrested three senior members of the church over the allegations. Lee and Shincheonji have steadfastly denied the accusation.
More than 5,200 of South Korea’s 13,672 cases have been linked to the church. Its branch in the southern city of Daegu became the biggest cluster after infections spiked in late February.
Health authorities used an aggressive test-and-quarantine program to contain the outbreak in Daegu and nearby towns by April, but the country has seen a resurgence of the virus in the Seoul area since late May as people increasingly venture out in public.
Senior Health Ministry official Yoon Tae-ho said the spread of the coronavirus is stabilizing in the Seoul area and other major cities.
The 60 new cases reported Friday included 39 linked to people arriving from abroad. The country is enforcing two-week quarantines for all people arriving from overseas.
