SEOUL:A populist conservative pastor who has been blamed for a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in South Korea has been jailed after his bail was revoked.
Pastor Jun Kwang-hoon from the Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul was accused by prosecutors last month of violating his bail conditions by participating in a mass anti-government demonstration here on Aug 15.
He was initially detained during an investigation into charges he violated the Election Law ahead of the April 15 general election, but was released on bail with conditions including a ban on attending illegal rallies or protests.
According to a Korea Times report, the pastor tested positive for Covid-19 two days after he took part in the rally. Some 527 cases were reported in relation to the anti-government rally.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 119 new cases on Sunday, raising the total to 21,296.
Cases linked to the Sarang Jeil Church reached 1,162 up to noon on Sunday, making it the second biggest cluster in the country.
The authorities announced that all public facilities in the capital will have operate under restricted hours or stay shut indefinitely.
The South China Morning Post reported that infections linked to the Sarang Jeil Church and Shincheonji Church of Jesus had negatively affected the public image of churches in the country.
The government said it would sue the Sarang Jeil Church for 15 billion won in indemnity costs.
The Sarang Jeil Church has faced accusations of being a cult by mainstream Christian groups for well over a decade.
Some critics have blamed the Presbyterian Church in South Korea, the group's former denomination, for not acting quickly enough to classify it as such.
Presbyterian pastor Jeong Jae-dong said the overall trust in churches had been declining since the 1980s and 1990s, when the country had as many as 10 million followers.
"Every year, about three to five per cent leave the church, so I would say there are about six to eight million in churches today.
"Low birth rates is a big proponent of this phenomenon, but social issues and the absence of healthy churches have been at the forefront of the problem."
Jo Sung-don, a professor at the Graduate School of Practical Theology, said churches were not seen as relevant to young people as before, as Korean society had evolved socially over the years.
He said the church used to be a very progressive engine where women and the youth came to act as initiators of social activism in the past, but it was now hard to find young church leaders as most church leaders were in their 60s.
"It has become embarrassing to be identified as a church-goer nowadays."
The South China Morning Post said the religion had also been in the headlines for negative reasons in the past over controversies concerning its leaders and the management of money.
Recently, a pastor of a 100-year-old church in the provincial city of Iksan faced charges of rape and sexual assault of 11 female members of the church.
Last year, a debate on nepotistic succession in the church was sparked when pastor Kim Sam-whan of Myungsung Church named his son the successor of his mega church, which has 100,000 members and about 40 billion won in yearly tithes.