Singapore probes activities of South Korean church chapter

By Ivan Lim
Former AJA President Contributor to AsiaN

Singapore: An unregistered local chapter of the South Korea church, at the centre of a mass Covid-19 outbreak in Daegu, is being investigated by the Singapore authorities – not just for the virus contamination alone.

The Shincheongji Church of Jesus, Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (SJC), is under probe for its potential threat to public security and criminal offence through clandestine activities.

Five South Koreans and two Singaporeans have been called in for questioning. “There was reason to believe that people were being misled and defrauded into certain actions and a cult was behind it even though they put up front companies to carry out their actions,” said Home Affairs and Law Minister K.Shanmugam on February 28.

Recently, a group tried to register a company called Heavenly Culture, World Peace and Restoration of Light. It was not approved as the authorities believed it was meant to be a front for the SCJ a.k.a. New Heaven and New Earth.

Investigations found that in December 2016, the group had incorporated Spasie Ptd Ltd offering consultation and soft-ware development services. Recently, it also set up a self-proprietorship, Kings Ave, for training and motivational courses but meant to be used as a “temple”.

As early as 2016, the Ministry was alerted, said Mr Shanmugam that SCJ’s activities “would be inimical to the broader public if it is allowed to carry on.”

He pointed out that people are free to choose their religions.”But the government will step in when it crosses the line into criminality or potential public security.”

According to the authorities, the SCJ operates secretly, using front bodies to target youths and young adults to join their activities; members are told to conceal the local existence of SCJ and their involvement in it. Members are also not allowed to contact one another and tell their families about their church links.   Besides disparaging other churches and pastors as belonging to Satan, the SCJ engages in infiltrating and disrupting established Korean churches.

The SCJ’s unsavory traits include teaching members that they can lie and even cheat in achieving the church’s divine purpose.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said it sped up the probe into the SCJ practices after the news broke of the massive 840 cases of Covid epidemic at the 300,000-strong church’s headquarters in the city of Daegu. Citing privacy, the church founder Lee Man-hee had refused to give information to the authorities investigating the outbreak.

The authorities’ crackdown is clearly timed to nib in the bud the cult group, with a scant following of 100 or so.