It is now definitively confirmed that the movement and its leader Chairman Lee did not breach any COVID regulation.
by Massimo Introvigne
Remember Shincheonji, the Korean new religious movement that in 2020 was accused of having deliberately spread COVID-19 in South Korea? This was repeated by all international media, particularly after Shincheonji’s founder and leader, Chairman Lee Man Hee, was arrested in the night between July 31 and August 1, 2020. The idea that Shincheonji “spread the plague” was still mentioned in some Western media in 2022, despite the fact that Chairman Lee had been found not guilty of any COVID-related offenses in first degree by the Suwon District Court on January 13, 2021, and on appeal by the Suwon High Court on November 30, 2021.
On August 12, 2022, the Supreme Court of South Korea confirmed the verdict, dismissing all the prosecutor’s arguments. But what about the story hundreds of media carried, that Shincheonji members refused to respect the COVID regulations believing their faith would protect them? This never happened, the Korean Courts said—and in fact Shincheonji moved its services online before most other Korean churches did.
It is true that one member who had COVID, misdiagnosed by the hospital she went to as a common cold, spread the virus to hundreds of co-religionists. Did Shincheonji, when requested after this incident to give to the authorities full details of its members and properties, deliberately supply partial and inaccurate lists? Fake news, again. The Korean courts confirmed that the inaccuracies were minimal, and Shincheonji was not even compelled by the law to submit the extensive lists requested by the authorities.
The Supreme Court left standing the lower courts’ conclusion that “there was no evidence of obstruction” of anti-COVID efforts by Shincheonji. On the contrary, after an agreement with the authorities about the lists to be submitted to them was concluded, “Shincheonji actively cooperated with the submission of data and promptly provided them to the CDCH [Central Disease Control Headquarters].” Let’s hope that the Supreme Court decision would stop the circulation of fake news created and spread by Shincheonji’s well-organized opponents. And let’s repeat that Shincheonji and Chairman Lee did not obstruct in any way the anti-COVID campaigns but “promptly” and “actively” cooperated with the health authorities. This has now been confirmed in three degrees of judgement.
In a country where accusations raised by prosecutors are accepted by judges in more than 90% of the cases, the result is remarkable. Prosecutors, however, can never totally lose in South Korea, and other charges were added against Chairman Lee. They concern episodes that had allegedly happened long before the COVID-19 crisis started, including mismanaging funds and holding events in facilities whose owners had canceled the corresponding rental agreements under pressure by opponents of Shincheonji.
I have explained elsewhere that these accusations did not make sense, but they served as a parachute for the prosecutors after their COVID case has collapsed. The Supreme Court confirmed for these alleged offenses a sentence of three years for Chairman Lee, suspended for five years. This means that the 91-year-old Chairman Lee will not go to jail for these charges unless he repeats the alleged offenses.
Everybody understands that the additional charges were thrown in to save the face of the prosecutors and the politicians who had backed them. The important point is that all the propaganda about Shincheonji as spreader of the COVID-19 virus has now been definitively exposed as a lie. It is unfortunately unlikely that any of the media that depicted Chairman Lee and his followers as “plague-spreaders” will now apologize to them.