Lee Jae-myung "Shincheonji gave faulty data. However, no consideration for accusation"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung analyzed that it is highly likely that the Shincheonji Church of Jesus provided false data when handing over the list of believers to the government or Gyeonggi Province.

However, Governor Lee stated that Gyeonggi Province, as the health authority responsible for the lives of 13.6 million residents, will do its best to ensure their safety, and that he believes investigations such as filing charges against Shincheonji will be handled by investigative agencies.

On the 28th, at an emergency press conference held in the briefing room of Gyeonggi Provincial Government in Suwon, Governor Lee said, "There are various stories about the list submitted by Shincheonji," and added, "When the Daegu rally attendance became an issue, they submitted data to the government with a few people nationwide, including 20 from Gyeonggi Province. However, when Gyeonggi Province conducted a forced epidemiological investigation and remotely accessed the server in Gwacheon to check the attendance list of those from the province, an additional list of 22 people different from the 20 arbitrarily submitted by Shincheonji to the government was found."

Governor Lee added, "(This can only be seen as) someone intentionally tampering with the data to cause changes."

He also explained, "When Gyeonggi Province said it would conduct a forced epidemiological investigation targeting Shincheonji (regarding attendance status at the Gwacheon worship service), Shincheonji said, 'We will provide the relevant data to the government, so don't come,' and presented a list of 1,920 people. However, the actual on-site investigation by Gyeonggi Province found that 9,930 people attended the Gwacheon worship service at that time."

Governor Lee further stated, "After Gyeonggi Province obtained data through the forced epidemiological investigation and the government additionally notified information received from Shincheonji for comparison, there was a difference of 1,974 people. In particular, there were 2,171 people on the list received by Gyeonggi Province who were not on the list given to Gyeonggi by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency."

However, Governor Lee emphasized, "Gyeonggi Province is the health authority responsible for the health of residents, not the agency responsible for investigations," and said, "We will comply if investigative agencies request necessary data, but we have no intention of taking legal actions such as filing charges."

He added, "Shincheonji believers are also our citizens and residents," emphasizing, "If the leadership of Shincheonji made mistakes, they will be punished, and I do not think the believers should be harshly held responsible."