South Korea: President Moon Jae-in Condemns Churches For Disregarding Social Distancing Norms As Country Faces Biggest Outbreak In Months 

Witnessing its biggest surge since March, South Korea reported 279 new coronavirus cases on Sunday (Aug 17), up from 166 reported a day earlier.

The latest outbreak has been linked to the Sarang Jeil Church. The Church is led by Reverend Jun Kwang-hoon, a controversial pastor and an outspoken critic of country’s President Moon Jae-in.

At least 193 of the new cases have been linked to the Sarang Jeil Church, according to the Seoul metropolitan government.

The record spike in new infections forced Moon Jae-in to warn of new clusters in coming days in the Seoul metropolitan area.

“The daily new Covid-19 cases suddenly spiked to 279, with infections centred on some churches,” he said in a Facebook message.

“We are in a very grave situation … This is a critical moment to determine the success or failure of our quarantine efforts”.

Moon Jae-in also warned that this figure could dramatically increase, as health officials rush to test all 4,066 of the church's members.

Moon Jae-in said the outbreak posed the biggest challenge to combat the virus since the cluster linked to the Shincheonji Church.

The total number of cases in South Korea currently stands at15,318.

Earlier this weekend, Reverend Jun Kwang-hoon defied a ban on rallies in the capital by participating in liberation day rally to protest against the president’s policies.

Banseok Church, in the northwestern sub-city of Goyang, was identified as source of 33 new cases since Thursday, when one of its congregation tested positive.

Last Tuesday, a church in Gimpo city, west of Seoul, and at another small church in Goyang, were identified as source of infections.

In March this year, the country’s officials had initiated a criminal complaint requesting a murder investigation into the leaders of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Christian sect at the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic claiming the church should be liable for its refusal to cooperate with efforts to stop the disease.

The leader of the Shincheonji Church, Lee Man-hee, was arrested earlier this month.

Founded in 1984 by Lee Man-hee who claims that he is the second coming of Jesus, the Shincheonji Church of Jesus has 12 branches in South Korea and over 200,000 followers. It has expanded overseas and set up a branch last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. The Church is said to have invited Koreans from northeastern China to South Korea as part of their evangelical work.

Shincheonji, which means "new heaven and earth" in Korean, has been described as an apocalyptic Christian group. The followers believe that founder has donned the mantle of Jesus Christ and will take 144,000 people with him to heaven on the day of judgment.

Lee also teaches he is the only person who can interpret the Bible and promises to take 144,000 people to heaven with him on the Day of Judgement. Lee has called the coronavirus "an act of the devil who saw the rapid growth of Shincheonji and wants to destroy our advancement".