was in fact "deception," as they were invited, and went voluntarily, to training sessions without being told that they were organized by Eastern Lightning. In 2019, CESNUR's Bitter Winter co-hosted in Seoul with Human Rights Without Frontiers a conference supporting the right of asylum of Eastern Lightning and Uyghur refugees from China living in South Korea. Members of Eastern Lightning and the Uyghur diaspora also spoke in the conference. Shincheonji and spread of COVID-19 On November 29, 2019, CESNUR co-organized a seminar in Seoul claiming that thousands of members of Shincheonji, a group many in South Korea regard as a cult, had been subject to forcible deprogramming. Introvigne was among the speakers. Regarding the Shincheonji organization's association with a coronavirus outbreak in 2020, CESNUR and Human Rights Without Frontiers released a joint white paper claiming that, although Shincheonji made "mistakes" in its management of the crisis, the organization had also been discriminated against because of its unpopular status. References Bibliography External links CESNUR official site Research institutes in Italy