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From: Vinh Ta <vinh123.ta@yahoo.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2020 6:27 PM To: Pitchford, Phil <PPitchford@riversideca.gov> Subject: [External] Hello is that you COVID- 19? To Whom It May Concern, During this time of a global pandemic and many injustices occurring all over the world, many people are dying of the COVID-19 virus and at the hands of humans. The devastating images on the news all around the world should prompt us to be in cohesion with each other now more than ever to battle against the constant tragedies that keep arising. Although there are many afflictions that emerge with each day, I am disheartened to learn that we have no response and in turn, keep moving backwards in this rapidly changing era. The United States' case with George Floyd and Black people, global displacement of people due to exploitation of land, and the blaming of the coronavirus on one group of people are examples of the cruelty against humanity that have been happening in the midst of the virus. I am writing this letter to reveal the corruption of the Korean government in adherence to wrongfully punishing a religious group called Shincheonji Church of Jesus based in South Korea for allegedly intending to spread the coronavirus. First off, the COVID-19 virus was found to have originated in Wuhan, China, not Korea. Even more, China and South Korea are separated by a body of water. In order to access South Korea from China on land, one would need to go through North Korea. So why would someone who wants to spread biological warfare set the origin of the virus so far away? Unfortunately, this organization has been tied to various lawsuits that include accusations of murder charges. As a citizen of the U.S., religious freedom is one of the foundations of this country outlined in the very first amendment in the Bill of Rights. There is an abundant amount of religious organizations, but why is Korea scapegoating this one individual organization? It is because the government has been targeting Shincheonji long before the virus began. Just try to even conceptualize our American government holding one religious party responsible for this virus just because of the prejudice they have against the organization. Moreover, to dig deeper into the political perspective of this unjust situation, Choo Mi Ae became the Minister of Justice of Korea on January 3rd of 2020. At this time, people had become aware of the unfamiliar, novel coronavirus but did not take immediate response. To prevent COVID- 19 from spreading throughout Korea, a national petition with 460,000 citizens' signatures was made. The intention of this petition was to stop the entrance of Chinese citizens into Korea to eliminate any possibility of the virus contaminating even more people outside of China. The authority to suspend travel of Chinese citizens was given to the Minister of Justice, Choo Mi Ae. However, rather than listening to the voices of citizens, she did not implement any travel restrictions because she believed it was inefficient. Furthermore, Chinese ambassador, Xing Haiming, expressed gratitude that the Minister of Justice did not ban any travel. Because Choo Mi Ae did not respond accordingly and went against the concerns of the citizens in Korea, this led to the drastic increase to the number of coronavirus cases in the country. 1