On December 28th 2019, some 50 prominent South Korean religious leaders gathered at an event sponsored by Pan-Religion Association and hosted by the Christian Federation of Anti-Corruption, where a joint statement was issued declaring the Presbyterian pastor Gwanghun Jeon a “public enemy” in light of his sacrilegious and criminal speeches where he blasphemed God, degraded women and called for an overthrow of the government.

- “Half of women’s talk is the word of Satan”

- "Women, can you wear short skirts when you come to church? Can you wear a skirt that shows your underwear or not? If you dress like that, I’ll lift your skirt up"
- "President Moon has already been disposed of by God. The Republic of  Korea will revolve around Pastor Gwanghun Jeon for the next ten years. You can’t help it, even if you hate it"
- “Because I’m ‘anointed’, I’ll always have a hold of God’s throne. God, freeze. If you mess with me, God, I’ll kill you! You see, I’m God’s close friend, we’re on very good terms”

“Islam and homosexuality are diseases”

 “Those who believe Buddhism should go to prison or uninhabited island”

In his inaugural speech as president of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) in February 2019, he said that his major objective was to “block homosexuality, Islam and Anti-discrimination law.” Later in October 2019, he led an anti-government demonstration and referred to the South Korean President Jae-In Moon as “a son of a bi**h”. He insisted that President Moon is a spy and that there are 500,000 spies seeking to turn South Korea into North Korea. He concluded the demonstration saying, “Hallelujah. The most pleasant time has come. It's time to collect offerings.”

The CCK was founded on Presbyterian doctrine in 1989, representing the majority of Christian (especially Presbyterian) churches in South Korea. It has exerted its influence in elections and labels members or denominations not belonging to the CCK as “cults”. It has carried out heinous ‘coercive conversion’ programmes which have led to the death of two women and separated thousands of families in South Korea. Indeed, Massimo Introvigne, Italian sociologist and director of Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) as the largest international organisation studying new religious movements, acknowledged this, saying:-

“The activities of the CCK and Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon are causing international concern. In addition to their radical political activities, the CCK and Rev. Jun are spreading religious intolerance in Korea and abroad through hate speech and discrimination against groups they label as ‘heretic’. Worse, they support violence against members of these groups, such as Shincheonji and others, who are kidnapped and submitted to ’deprogramming,’ an illegal forced conversion program trying to compel them to renounce their faith.” 

The two women killed from ‘coercive conversion’ were Sunhwa Kim and Ji-In Gu. Thousands of people remain victim to this programme as this article goes out.

An online petition has been set up calling for the resignation of Pastor Jeon Gwanghun and shutdown of the Christian Council of Korea. It has gathered 35,000 signatures so far. To add yours, please click here👉http://chng.it/jXPpLxcK

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