I'm curious if something like this can be considered criminal. What if the mortality rate was higher? If the mortality rate was 100%, ethically would this be murder?
From what I've heard, the Sincheonji church had a long tradition of sending followers to other churches, hiding their identity, so that they make a lot of friends there, start small clubs and bible studies, and eventually convert them into their own church. (I even heard there were cases when they converted a pastor, winning over a church wholesale, though that might be a bit embellished.)
The problem was so bad that, even before the current epidemic, other "regular" churches had a sign saying "No member of Sincheonji is allowed in our church." So, yeah, not exactly your garden variety Christian church.
When you think about it, this behavior would make Sincheonji a perfect vector for spreading the virus. And that's what happened. Yikes.
They have over 200+K members now, but they are secretive in that they don't identify themselves as such when they recruit other church members.
Or worse, even after the outbreak, some didn't reveal their affiliation with the cult. In one instance, a dude leading Daegu city's outbreak management team, didn't reveal his affiliation with the cult until after test came positive and coworker were also infected. They also refused to give names of their cult members, even as most of new Wuhan virus cases were linked to the cult and the gov't actively sought their members for quarantine.
