Seoul's city government has asked prosecutors to press charges, including murder, against the founder of a secretive religious sect for failing to cooperate in containing the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
South Korea has seen a surge in the number of infections -- adding more than 4,000 cases in less than two weeks -- with around 60 percent of the national total linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus.
As officials try to track down and test more than 266,000 people associated with Shincheonji, the entity has been accused of submitting false lists of its members to authorities.
The Seoul City government said it had filed a legal complaint to prosecutors against 12 leaders of the sect -- including its founder, Lee Man-hee -- accusing them of homicide, causing harm and violating the Infectious Disease and Control Act.
"They did not take any action to encourage its members to actively cooperate with the health authorities to prevent further spread of the COVID-19," the city authorities said in a statement.
Seoul mayor Park Won-soon added on his Facebook page: "If they had actively taken early measures, we could have prevented the explosive rise of COVID-19 cases in Daegu and North Gyeongbuk province and the deaths of several people."
Shincheonji declined to comment, saying: "The most important thing for us now is disinfecting and our highest priority is to end the COVID-19 outbreak soon."