[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Daegu City has decided to file a complaint against the Shincheonji Jesus Church Daegu branch for submitting a list with falsified numbers of believers.
On the 28th, Daegu City stated in a regular briefing, "We received a list from the government that included residents registered in Daegu among Shincheonji church members from other regions, as well as trainees of the Daegu church," and added, "By cross-checking with the list obtained from the Shincheonji Daegu church, we identified an additional 1,983 believers." The additional 1,983 identified include 222 believers belonging to other Shincheonji branches but residing in Daegu, and 1,761 trainees of the Shincheonji Daegu church.
Daegu City plans to file charges against the person responsible at the Shincheonji Daegu church for omitting believers from the list submitted to Daegu, under the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act. They are also considering filing complaints against those who concealed their status as believers or gave false statements during epidemiological investigations by health authorities.
Since some names on the list appear to be foreigners, a full investigation will be conducted to determine the exact number of foreign nationals.
In response, the Shincheonji Daegu church denied hiding the number of believers. A church official stated, "Trainees are not believers, so their names were not submitted initially, and it was only recently, after consultations between the General Headquarters and government authorities, that the list was newly submitted."
They further claimed, "The 1,761 trainees are not believers but ordinary Daegu citizens studying the Bible," and added, "Many of them probably do not consider themselves Shincheonji members, so it is unacceptable to unilaterally treat them as church members." They also explained, "Although the addresses are in Daegu, some believers from other branches were counted; these individuals originally belonged to other branches but seem to have been newly classified under Daegu based on their addresses."
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