R.I.P Ms. Ji-In Gu

Following the murder of 27-year-old Ms. Ji-In Gu in Hwasun, Republic of Korea, a Facebook page has been set up to commemorate her passing and bring to light a tragedy which the Korean government continues to remain silent on. Ms. Gu was murdered at the hands of her parents with heavily complicit involvement by Christian pastors. Why? For having refused to renounce her religious beliefs.

Ms. Ji-In Gu is not the first victim of this practice of coercive conversion. In fact, approximately 1300 people in Korea have been subject to it. Coercive, or ‘forced’, conversion is a programme established and implemented by so-called Christian pastors in Korea who kidnap, confine, and subject their victims to violence in an attempt to force them to renounce their religious beliefs. It is a clear violation of Article 20 of the Constitution of South Korea in which “all citizens enjoy the freedom of religion” and the basic universal human right to the freedom of religion.

Since her passing in January 2018, rallies and memorials have been held and attended by hundreds of thousands of people in over thirty countries. Most recently, a one-page notice of her murder was published in the New York Times. In addition, a website has been created called ‘End coercive conversion’ (please see link below), which contains a letter of plea that she wrote and sent to the President of Korea in June 2017 shortly after she had escaped her initial 44 days in captivity by pastors. No action was taken. She was abducted again shortly after.

No one can compensate for the unjust loss of a sister, daughter and friend who was loved by many.

Reading

May_RIP_Gu 

https://goo.gl/Gy7tsd

End Coercive Conversion

http://endcoerciveconversion.org/