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 27^th 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.