Sydkoreansk sektledare gripen för virusspridning

Shincheonji, Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (SCJ), commonly known as Shincheonji Church of Jesus or simply Shincheonji (Korean: 신천지; Hanja: 新天地; lit. New Heaven and New Earth; IPA: [ɕintɕʰʌndʑi]) is an offshoot Christian new religious movement established in South Korea by Lee Man-hee.Shincheonji's teaching claims that their founder Lee is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and that the Bible is written in secret metaphors which only Lee can correctly interpret. Before founding his own religious movement, Lee was a member of a controversial group called the Olive Tree, a cult which spawned the first countercult movement in post-war Korea.Shincheonji teaches that it is the true faith with its members receiving salvation at the time of final judgment. Everyone not in the group will be denied forgiveness and destroyed.In 2020, the group became the center of intense scrutiny during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. The outbreak of coronavirus cases in Korea was initially centered in the city of Daegu after a 61-year-old Shincheonji member known as Patient 31 infected other church members causing the pandemic to surge in Daegu. As the disease spread among Shincheonji's members and thousands of others, the group's founder and leaders refused to get tested, citing their religious beliefs to privacy, resulted in a national outcry against the group. Shincheonji members also resisted government attempts at tracking the spread of pandemic and implementation of social distancing rules and prompted the Seoul City government to file legal complaints to state prosecutors against 12 leaders of the sect accusing the group of homocide, causing harm, and violating the Infectious Disease and Control Act.In response to the negative media attention on Shincheonji, Lee Man-hee spoke publicly about being misunderstood or false accused.