The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), an organization under the Ministry of Welfare and Health, stated that 123 additional cases have been confirmed with a total of 556 as of February 23. Many of confirmed cases were found in the city of Daegu and the North Gyeongsang Province.

South Korean prime minister Chung Sye-Kyun in his public statement asked citizens to cooperate with the government and avoid large-scale gatherings and the virus has a low fatality rate and can be cured sufficiently by early isolation and treatment.

But the South Korean government did not mention the prohibition of entry from China, which has constantly been raised by the Korean Medical Association and opposition parties. For the online national petition to the executive office for the President of South Korea on the prohibition of entry, no official responses have been made by the government despite 760,000 supports. The South Korean public news agency, Yonhap News, introduced the possible relationship between the influx of 1,000 Chinese school trips to Daegu last month.

The Shincheonji Church, which has gained main attention for the virus proliferation and counteraction, released a statement on the same day that the church is in close cooperation with the health authorities, including offering the full list of members the Shincheonji Church in Daegu to the KCDC, as many members of the church have been exposed to the virus after the 31^st confirmed case from a member of the church was found.

With the fear of increasing infection cases, major newspaper reports and social media posts in South Korea turn their eyes on the Shincheonji Church, many of which are speculative information. Some South Korean media owned by the conservative and fundamentalist Protestant groups that have denounced Shincheonji released an article saying that Shincheonji ordered its members to participate in other church services so that the Coronavirus is not solely the Shincheonji problem.

“As a scholar who has studied Schincheonji, I am concerned with the fact that international media that obviously know nothing about it have “discovered” this church overnight because of the coronavirus incidents in Korea, and have repeated inaccurate information they found on low-level Internet sources,” said Prof. Massimo Introvigne, a well-known Italian sociologist of religion and the managing director of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions).

Part of anti-Shincheonji sentiment was also found in the South Korean government, as the KCDC press release in English on February 19 described the infection cases and classified Shincheonji as a “Korean cult.” President Moon Jae-in’s remarks and government statements in the Korean language officially referred to Shincheonji as a “church.”

“Even of more concern is the fact that Shincheonji members who have contracted the virus, who are the victims in this story, are being treated unfairly by the Korean media and described as “cultists.” Worse still, some Shincheonji members have been insulted, discriminated and forced out of their jobs, as scapegoats for what has become a national and international hysteria about the virus,” added Prof. Introvine.

The negative attitude against the new Christian denomination is on the ground of decades-long confrontation with the conservative and fundamentalist Christian groups whose political activism raised controversies on corruption, which triggered breakaway from these groups and joining the new Christian movement led by Shincheonji.

“Turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the illegal activities of the conservative church in South Korea, such as kidnapping and confinement for forced conversion, resulted in violence against the rapid increase of Shincheonji members. Intensifying the degree of indiscriminate hatred promoted by unfounded information in media and communication platforms poses a continuing, grave concern for the already gross violation of human rights against them,” said Willey Fautré, Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers (HWRF).

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The ministry said it was fully monitoring the Shandong, China first domestically built aircraft carrier, and accompanying ships as they traversed the strait separating China from self-ruled Taiwan.

Taiwan’s presidential office said in a statement that China had an “international responsibility” to contribute to cross-strait and regional peace and welfare, AFP reported.

Last month Beijing confirmed it had sent the new carrier through the strait as part of routine training, sparking concerns from Washington’s de facto embassy in Taiwan.

At the time, foreign minister Joseph Wu accused China of attempting to intervene in Taiwan’s elections, saying “voters won’t be intimidated.”

The sail-bys come ahead of Taiwan’s January 11 presidential elections, with Beijing-skeptic President Tsai Ing-wen seeking a second term against a challenger who favors warmer ties with China.

Beijing has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan since Tsai came to power in 2016, as her government refuses to acknowledge that the democratic island is part of “one China.”

Tsai — who has voiced support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement — has described the elections as a fight for Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.

China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Beijing announced earlier this month that the Shandong had officially entered service.

It’s only other carrier — the Liaoning — has passed through the Taiwan Strait several times in recent years, most recently in June.

US navy ships periodically conduct “freedom of navigation” operations in the Taiwan Strait, while Canadian and French ships have also sailed through the waterway this year.

China views any ships passing through the strait as a breach of its territorial sovereignty — while the US and many other nations see the route as international space.

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In an interview with IRNA on Monday, Zarif said reaching a strategic 25-year deal according to Iran-China ties was only an idea proposed by Iran.

Dismissing speculation that Iran has offered significant concessions to China under such a strategic deal, Zarif said the rumors are basically false.

Asked about the reports on the contents and articles of the deal, Zarif underlined that such an agreement does not basically exist, let alone have articles.

A proposal has been put forward for a 25-year plan that still needs to be negotiated and drafted, the minister added.

In late August, Zarif paid a visit to China to explore avenues for the expansion of strategic relations between the two nations in talks with senior Chinese officials.

In a meeting in Beijing, Zarif and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi discussed various issues related to bilateral relations, the latest developments in the implementation of the JCPOA, a roadmap for Iran-China ties in the next 25 years, the security of the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, and the illegal and unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on independent countries.

On September 17, Chairwoman of the Money and Capital Market Commission of Tehran’s Chamber of Commerce Farial Mostofi said a $400 billion credit line has been launched for trade between Iran and China.

The volume of non-oil trades between Iran and China amounted to $8.8 billion in the first four months of 2019, according to the data released by the Chinese customs, though according to the official statistics revealed for this year, the trade volume between Iran and EU members has fallen by 73 percent and it has reached $3.8b euros in the first seven months of 2019.

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