Gyeonggi Province Secures List of Approximately 3,000 Shincheonji Members
[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 26th that it conducted an emergency forced investigation at a Shincheonji facility in Gwacheon and secured lists of 33,582 members residing in the province and 9,930 attendees of the Gwacheon Shincheonji Church service.
The province conducted a forced epidemiological investigation starting at 10:30 a.m. on the 25th at the General Assembly Headquarters of Shincheonji Jesus Church, located on the 4th floor of a shopping center building in Byeolyang-dong, Gwacheon City.
The epidemiological investigation mobilized approximately 40 personnel, including two epidemiological investigators from Gyeonggi Province, 25 epidemiological investigation support staff, and two digital forensics experts from the Gyeonggi Province Special Investigation Police Unit.
The measure was taken after a resident of Anyang City who attended a service at the Gwacheon Shincheonji General Assembly Headquarters on the 16th tested positive for COVID-19 on the 24th, determining that a comprehensive survey of service attendees was necessary.
The province obtained lists of 33,582 Shincheonji members residing in Gyeonggi Province and 9,930 attendees of the Gwacheon Shincheonji Church service on February 16th. Some are estimated to be duplicates.
Based on this, the province plans to classify individuals requiring testing and proceed with isolation and infection testing of the members.
Governor Lee Jae-myung of Gyeonggi Province, who visited the site to direct operations, stated: "During the epidemiological investigation process conducted by Gyeonggi Province, we confirmed that a gathering worship service with approximately 10,000 Shincheonji members was held in Gwacheon on the 16th, and two attendees residing in the Seoul metropolitan area have already tested positive. We had no time to delay further as we cannot miss the golden window of opportunity to prevent large-scale infection while waiting for Shincheonji to submit the list."