A clash over disease control between the government and a church is the latest flashpoint in a wider conflict between a right-wing coalition and President Moon Jae-in's liberal administration.
Members of conservative right-wing and Christian groups take part in an anti-government rally in Seoul on Aug. 15.Members of conservative right-wing and Christian groups take part in an anti-government rally in Seoul on Aug. 15.A decade ago, building cleaner Noh Il-soon was in the market for a new church. She had previously moved within Seoul, and when she did, she looked for a local congregation to join.
Authorities say the church has become the main cluster in a new wave of COVID-19 infections that has threatened to reverse the country's early success in controlling the virus. In addition, Jun, the charismatic pastor, is now in jail, accused of illegal election campaigning and libeling South Korean President Moon Jae-in by calling him a North Korean spy.
"Christian fundamentalism has been the mainstream of South Korea's Christianity, which has been very political since its early days," observes Kim Jin-ho, a pastor and researcher at the Christian Institute for the 3rd Era, a Seoul-based religious research institute. Jun built up his following among older, lower-income South Koreans like Noh beginning in the 1960s, Kim says. Many of them had moved from the countryside to the cities. Then, some two decades ago, as other Protestant churches began to target affluent urban professionals, Jun's following strengthened amid an increasing sense of alienation among the less privileged.
Many pastors of small churches in South Korea subsist on donations from members, Kim says, which they're unable to collect now because the government has required them to move religious services online during the pandemic.
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