A graduation ceremony was held at Daegu Stadium at noon on the 20th. of Nov. More than 500 former and current pastors graduated.
Joint operation of a cooperative network with local governments in preparation for safety.

The Zion Christian Mission Center (Mr. Tan Young Jin, the Head of Zion Christian Mission Center) produced 106,186 graduates which was the largest amount of graduates as a single Christian educational institution.

The Zion Christian Mission Center, a Bible education institution of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, held the class 113 graduation ceremony of the Zion Christian Mission Center at Daegu Stadium on the 20th. A total of 106,186 people graduatedon this day, making it the world’s largest theological education institution.

For safety reasons, the number of people participating in the graduation ceremony in Korea was limited to 80,000. About300,000 people in total (Online or offline) participated in the graduation ceremony on YouTube live broadcasts in nine different languages.

The graduation ceremony was prepared thoroughly to prevent safety issue as it is highly concerned recently in South Korea. The Shincheonji Church of Jesus said, “For preparing this event, safety is the first, second and third.” adding, “We are creating a cooperative network with local governments to check disinfection, safety, traffic, and order several times and operate a control room for monitoring the event with police, fire departments, Daegu-si, and Suseong-gu Office safety officials.”

In addition, “the church itself allocated a total of 14,000 safety personnel to maintain order inside and outside the venue, and made participants enter and leave the event venue over four hours to prevent overcrowding.” he said. “About 180 medical staff and four ambulances are also on standby in case of an accident.” Emergency rescue training was conducted for all safety personnel, and all graduates also completed watching emergency rescue videos. “We emphasize that this completion ceremony was especially safety-oriented,” he explained.

The event consisted of the opening ceremony of Part 1 and the completion ceremony of Part 2. In the first part, starting with praise services, congratulatory speeches, congratulatory messages, representative prayers, and commemorative speeches of ChairmanMan-Hee Lee was followed. The second part included a congratulatory performance, a congratulatory speech by Tan Young-jin, the head of the Zion Christian Mission Center, a certificate of completion, a tassel turning, awardceremony, testimony from graduates, and a special performance.

Among the class 113 graduates, a total of 522 pastors, including 37 in Korea and 485 overseas, completed the program, as the proportion of pastors has increased significantly compared to other years. In this background, it is closely related to the creation of an online class environment due to COVID-19. As an environment where students can take classes without being aware of others was created, the number of pastors and seminaries increased rapidly. The two representatives of the graduates who announced their acceptance speech on this day are also pastors.

The fact that pastors who joined the introductory, intermediate course including Revelation (Advanced), were able to participate in education online without being aware of other people during the COVID-19 pandemic is the background of the increase in the number of pastors.

Heo Jung-wook, who shared the testimony as a representative of a Korean graduate at the completion ceremony, is acurrent pastor who has been pastor for a decade. After 20 years of ministry, he said, “I only learned traditional theology in seminary, but I didn’t know much about Revelation. Except for difficult words, he has taught only easy words to convey to the saints. I repent that I was a sinner who added and subtracted from the word of God,” he said. “I put down all my possessions and came forward to the truth.” I learned true theology that leads me to heaven, not to study of mankind. “I thank God for giving me a chance to live,” he said.

D.Jackson, a representative of overseas graduates, is also an Indian pastor who changed the name of the seminary to the Hepto Zion Christian Mission Center after signing an MOU after receiving an online Bible class at the Shincheonji Church in October last year. Currently, 294 members of the church, including the pastor in charge of the two churches, have completed the entire course of the Zion Christian Mission Center and are listed as the class 113 graduates.

Meanwhile, the Shincheonji Church of Jesus focused on contributing to the revitalization of the local economy and coexisting with local residents by holding the first large-scale face-to-face event in Daegu since the COVID-19 pandemic. All possible consumption activities, such as transportation, accommodation, and meals for 100,000 people, were made in the region to help local residents.

After the Itaewon disaster of South Korea, it was not confirmed whether to do the event or not, but rather than abandoning the win-win opportunity in consideration of the contract situation with local companies, it was decided to do the event focused on safety as much as possible based on the know-how of hosting large-scale domestic and foreign events.

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The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) said they have arrested two suspects following the death of a soldier in an attack on Gadaffi barracks in Jinja.

The army identified the deceased as Sergeant Simon Peter Eyagu. Sgt Eyagu was deployed together with Lance corporal (L/Cpl) Norico Kibirige to guard a small gate of Ambercourt road, with in the perimeter of Gadaffi barracks.

“Last evening an Attack occurred on our Soldiers guarding at Ambercourt road close to Gadaffi barracks at 2050hrs leading to the death by strangling and shooting of RA/110575 Sgt Eyagu Simon Peter, a UPDF soldier attached to Gadaffi Barracks Jinja Cantonment while his colleague had gone to buy some drink,” UPDF said in a statement on Friday.

UPDF said that in the attack two weapons SMG guns were taken and all efforts are underway to recover them.

“The attack on our guards will meet the necessary retaliation. We are working closely with the UPF and other security agencies to apprehend the criminals. Two suspects have so far been arrested and we have leads to apprehend the entire group,” UPDF said.

The army called upon Jinja residents and Ugandans are called upon to remain calm as these acts of criminality shall be dealt with decisively like we have dealt with many others before.

The attack became the third on security agencies in less than a month. On Monday 14 November, gunmen riding on a motorcycle attacked Kensington Apartments police post in Kyanja. The assailants fired bullets at the window of the police post but no police officer was injured in the debacle.

On October 31, a violent attack was carried out on Busiika Police Station where armed assailants shot at and killed two police officers on duty, injured two others, one critically, and thereafter, robbed two police guns from them.

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Today marks two years since Ugandan security forces brutally clamped down on people protesting the arrest of opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi wine, killing 54 people, and injuring scores more.

While appearing on Citizen TV in Kenya, Bobi Wine demanded that the government treat them as human beings. “We are demanding to be human beings and be treated as such; to enjoy the rights for which many of our people have been killed”.

He said it is a pity that they can’t mourn nor meet in Uganda to talk about victims of torture by Museveni’s regime.

Bobi Wine and other concerned activists demanded accountability for the 2020 November killings.

The British High Commission said, “Today we remember those who were tragically killed in Uganda on 18 and 19 November 2020.”

The Commission asked the Government of Uganda to fully and transparently investigate what happened and bring all of those responsible to account.

Just before noon on November 18, 2020, two months ahead of Uganda’s general elections, security forces arrested Bobi Wine as he prepared to hold a campaign rally in Luuka, Eastern Uganda. The police said they had arrested him for breaching #Covid-19 regulations, but it was clear authorities were using the pandemic as a pretext to clamp down on opposition during the election campaigns.

As news spread about Kyagulanyi’s arrest, widespread protests in Kampala and other parts of the country erupted for two days. Authorities responded with teargas, by beating protestors and using live bullets, killing at least 54 people, even according to the government’s own admission. Those killed included bystanders and market traders who had nothing to do with the protests. Numerous others were injured.

A week after the protests, President Yoweri Museveni said the government would compensate only the families of 22 of the people who had died, saying the other 32 were rioters. Police later said they had launched investigations into the killings, but two years later, the authorities have not published their findings, held anyone accountable, nor compensated victims.

Uganda’s Constitution protects the rights to peaceful assembly, and association. The government is obligated under international law to ensure that use of force, in particular lethal force, is subject to scrutiny, to ensure effective investigations that lead to accountability for unlawful killings and injuries, as well as to provide access to effective remedies for all victims.

The government should take meaningful steps to show that it is serious about upholding human rights and the rule of law by ensuring justice for the November 2020 violence.

It should fulfill its promises and obligations under international law to the families of those who died and were injured at the hands of the security forces, whether they were protesting or not, through a transparent justice process that provides regular public updates on the progress of investigations and guarantees victims and their families’ effective participation.

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