The leader and self-proclaimed messiah of a South Korean religious movement at the center of the country’s largest coronavirus outbreak on Friday called the disease the “devil’s deed” and a test of faith.

Lee Man-hee sent the message on an internal app used by members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, which he founded in 1984.

“This disease case is seen as the devil’s deed to stop the rapid growth of Shincheonji,” he wrote in the message, images of which were published by Yonhap news agency. “Just like the tests Job went through, it is to destroy our advancement.”

South Korea reported 52 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Friday, taking the national total to 156, the majority in Daegu, the country’s fourth-largest city with a population of 2.5 million.

Of the national tally, 111 patients are from Daegu or nearby. Most have been traced to an infected 61-year-old woman known as “Patient 31” who attended services at a branch of the Shincheonji Church in recent weeks.

As of Friday more than 400 members of the church are showing symptoms of the disease, though tests were still ongoing, Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin said at a briefing. Officials in Seoul said they were closing Shincheonji churches there.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for officials to closely investigate the church services, as well as a funeral service at a hospital in nearby Cheongdo County that was attended by many church members and is now the site of another cluster of cases.

That hospital was also home to the first coronavirus patient to die in South Korea, though officials were still seeking to confirm his exact cause of death.

“We need a thorough investigation on the church and the funeral attendees,” Moon said.
Lee called on his followers to obey instructions from government authorities and to avoid holding meetings.

“The victims of the disease now are the Shincheonji believers,” he said. “Let’s also overcome this trial.”

Source:- Reuters