Latest news on "coercive conversion" since Ms. Gu's death
The local police report concluded that the
death of Ms. Ji-In Gu (27), who was suffocated by her parents at recreational
lodgings in Hwasun, Jeonnam, on January 9th 2018, was merely a "family matter". It was, therefore, not published by the Korean press. Ms. Gu, who was a member of Shincheonji
Church of Jesus, had escaped her first kidnapping from a Catholic
monastery in July 2016 and later petitioned to the then Korean president for justice and for the eradication of the coercive conversion programme established and implemented
by pastors of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK). However, her plea was ignored
and her fears of being dragged back on to the programme became a reality,
leading to her death.
Ms. Gu is not the first victim of coercive conversion. On June 7th 2006, Mrs. Kim was kidnapped
by her then husband and sister to a nearby motel where she received ‘counselling’ by a pastor of the ‘Korean Cult Counselling Office’ for refusing to renounce
her religious beliefs. After her escape and subsequent divorce, her
ex-husband bludgeoned her to death with a blunt hammer hit to the head in
October 2007.
(US
citizen reads the New York Times full-page article "Ban Coercive
Conversion" published on 27th November 2018)
Although
Article 20 of the Korean Constitution guarantees “freedom of religion”, these
cases are indicative of its ineffectiveness. It was overseas media, not the national
or local press, which brought their deaths into the international limelight
after a 120,000-strong rally in Seoul, Korea, in late January 2018. Since then,
there have been 25 rallies in 17 countries urging for these pastors’ punishment
and eradication of their coercive conversion programme, and media in 33
countries has actively reported on them. The New York Times reported: "The world is paying attention to the
violation of religious freedom and there is an increasing number of efforts to
help people who need to be protected from religious persecution." It
is shocking that such events are taking place in a supposedly democratic and
constitutional country - the home of K-pop.
The reality is that there have been 137 victims of coercive conversion
since Ms. Gu’s death. I hope news will spread globally throughout all major
media channels to put a permanent end to this menace and bring those pastors to account.
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