ON-SITE WORSHIPS CONTINUES DESPITE BAN ORDER

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Some churches in Busan defied the city's assembly ban order and held on-site worships last weekend, prompting authorities to file charges against them. Meanwhile, four more locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 were reported in Busan yesterday.

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​A church in Busan. The pastor and church members in masks have gathered for worship. The city had issued an assembly ban order to the church on August 20th for violating church service guidelines, but it went ahead with face-to-face worship for two weeks in a row.

[Soundbite] LIM YOUNG-MOON(CHAIR, BUSAN CHRISTIAN COUNCIL) : "There is no such thing as no-contact worship in the Bible. Worship itself requires face-to-face contact, facing God and fellow church members."

Together with the police, the city of Busan inspected churches from 16 districts and counties. They found 42 churches violated the guideline and went ahead with on-site worship services. Eight churches were reported to the police and assembly restriction orders for 34 churches were toughened to assembly ban orders.

[Soundbite] KIM MYEONG-SU(CULTURE & ARTS DIVISION, BUSAN METROPOLITAN GOV'T) : "We will follow the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' guidelines and procedure, so those in violation of assembly restriction order will be issued an assembly ban order and those defying the ban will be reported to the police."

Four new COVID-19 cases were reported in Busan yesterday. A Russian sailor who entered Busan Port was also found to have been infected. Fortunately, no new infections were found among the thousand-plus visitors to a public bath house in Haeundae. However, the whereabouts of roughly one hundred people who participated in the August 15th protest in Seoul are still unknown.