SEOUL, South Korea – The leader of a secret religious sect that was at the center of a coronavirus outbreak in South Korea last year received a three-year prison sentence on Wednesday for charges that included embezzlement of church money .
But Lee Man-hee, 89, the founder of the Church of Jesus Shincheonji, was acquitted of the charge of conspiring to hinder efforts by health officials to fight the virus.
Lee’s prison sentence has been suspended for four years, which means he will remain at liberty unless he commits a crime within that period.
The rapid spread of the virus among churchgoers in Daegu, a city in the southeast, in February and early March last year, made South Korea home to the world’s largest coronavirus outbreak outside China. A total of 5,213 of the country’s more than 68,000 cases have been found among church members and their contacts, according to government data.
Prosecutors arrested Mr. Lee in August on charges that he and other church officials had obstructed government efforts to combat the epidemic by failing to fully reveal the number of worshipers and their meeting places. Lee was also accused of embezzling 5.6 billion won, or $ 5.1 million, of church funds to build a luxurious “peace palace” north of Seoul, the capital, and of holding unauthorized religious events in public facilities. Prosecutors sought a five-year prison term.
Lee’s church – which he says has 245,000 followers in South Korea and abroad – faced intense criticism at home, and he apologized to the South Koreans in March for the number of cases linked to it. But the church rejected claims that his actions contributed to the spread of the virus, as well as parents’ accusations that Lee is a “religious swindler” whose church attracted and brainwashed his children with his unorthodox teachings.
At the peak of the outbreak that spread through the church, South Korea reported up to 900 new cases per day. But that outbreak was eclipsed by a new wave of infections that began to spread mainly across the populous metropolitan area of Seoul in November. The country, which has a population of around 50 million people, recorded a record 1,240 new cases on Christmas Day.
Lee, who was released on bail in November, denied all charges against him during the trial. In an earlier statement, his church said that Mr. Lee never intended to undermine government efforts to control the epidemic and asked church members to cooperate with health officials.
On Wednesday, a judge at the Suwon district court, south of Seoul, ruled that failure to provide a complete list of church members and facilities did not hamper the government’s disease control efforts.
Lee’s church welcomed the acquittal, but said he would appeal his conviction for embezzlement and other charges.