2nd Ad appears in NYTimes as one-year memorial services for Ms. Gu are held in a dozen+ countries worldwide

#CCK #HAC #Human_Rights #Coercive_Conversion_Program #Rally #Jongno

On 11th January 2019, a 2000-strong rally was hosted by the Human Rights Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs (HAC) outside the offices of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) in the heart of Seoul, Republic of Korea. The rally commemorated the death of 27 year-old Ms. Ji-In Gu, who was suffocated to death by her parents during her struggle resisting coercive conversion education.

The coercive conversion programme was created and implemented by pastors of the CCK to forcibly convert someone from one Christian denomination to another. The local police authorities dismissed Ms. Gu’s death as a ‘religious and familial matter’, but it is in fact much more than just a violation of her religious freedom; it violated her basic human rights.

The 2000-strong cry for justice in downtown Seoul, which urged for a law banning the coercive conversion programme and enforcement of legal punishment for pastors (of whom 571 have been convicted in the last four years for crimes including fraud, burglary, sexual assault and murder - see previous articles), was made in conjunction with over a dozen HAC memorial services worldwide. In Cape Town, more than 500 people gathered, including leading political and spiritual leaders. Cape Town Councillor, Barbara Rass, spoke emotively, saying, “We see this almost every day and we can’t just be silent. People must know that the world is watching.”

According to an HAC report, around 1250 Korean citizens - mainly youth - have been kidnapped, confined in remote locations and subjected to psychological and physical abuse because of their religious beliefs in South Korea over the last ten years. Since Ms. Gu’s death, there have been 147 confirmed cases of coercive conversion in South Korea. As we speak, there are dozens of people confined in remote locations throughout South Korea coerced into accepting coercive conversion education. Just last week, a woman in her forties who had been dragged to a remote location 100 km away in Chuncheon where she was confined and prevented from leaving until she signed a form in agreement of receiving coercive conversion education was found by friends. How long will these coercive conversion programmes, which have taken two lives so far, continue unhindered?

For the latest news articles on Ms. Gu’s death & the campaign to end coercive conversion

www.facebook.com/remembergu

Memorial Service held for Korean Woman Killed during Religious Conversion

http://reurl.kr/74001DN