South Korea’s Daegu struggles to shake off coronavirus stigma

The hard-hit city is returning to normalcy, but its residents feel ‘despised’ because of a Shincheonji-linked cluster that sparked the outbreak

A lockdown imposed to contain the epidemic has also hit the livelihoods of small business owners in Daegu

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People relax at a park in Daegu. Photo: Grace Moon

Published: 7:00am, 7 Apr 2020Updated: 5:17pm, 10 Apr 2020

Step inside the cafe owned by Kim Hyun-Joon in Daegu and order a drip bag coffee, and you will find a message written on the bag in cursive.

“Please leave behind any biases, and see us as we are,” it reads. “The truth is always closest within us. Daegu is also a city part of South Korea.”

The city, in the country’s south, is struggling to cope with the stigma surrounding the coronavirus after it became the epicentre of South Korea’s outbreak in mid-February following a rapid rise in infections linked to the secretive Shincheonji Church of Jesus.

“To many people now, [the] Shincheonji [Church] is Daegu,” said Kim, 42, who has been brewing coffee in Daegu for more than 12 years. “Just from scrolling through comments online, I sense that Daegu’s image has been hurt a lot. It makes me sad to see the entire city defined by a minority group.”

Kim Hyun-Joon owns a cafe in Daegu. Photo: Good Taste Coffee

As of Monday, South Korea had reported 10,284 Covid-19 cases and 186 deaths. Asia’s fourth-largest economy has seen far fewer daily cases in recent weeks than at its peak in late February when 909 infections were reported in one day. On Friday, Daegu, the country’s fourth-largest city, logged nine cases – the first time in 45 days the area hardest hit by the virus witnessed a single-digit increase.

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