On 28th April 2020, Cheonji Ilbo (Cheonji Daily) published an article concerning human rights violations caused by coercive conversion pastors in South Korea, entitled "They forced me to remove my underwear in front of relatives in a car. I'm a 30 year-old woman.” This is a translation of that article.
The once unknown term 'Deprogramming' became a serious
topic in Korean society in 2008 after Pastor Jin-Sik Jin sent Mr. Baek-Hyang
Jeong to a psychiatric ward in order to carry out forced conversion. He was
later punished by the law. At that time Pastor Jin, who headed up the Heresy
Investigation Committee of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK), forcibly
converted believers who belonged to denominations of the established church
labelled so-called 'cults', including Mr. Jeong’s. Such cases began to rise in
leaps and bounds. At first, pastors carried out ‘forced conversion’ (also
termed ‘deprogramming’ or ‘coercive conversion’) themselves, but later altered
their approach. Today, forced conversion pastors instil fear and anxiety in the
families of Shincheonji Church members by slandering Shincheonji Church, so
that families are deceived into believing their beloved child, wife or parent
has fallen into a ‘cult’ and are prone to making immediate hasty decisions. In
order to prevent this, forced conversion programs tainted by illegal practices
that include kidnap, confinement and violence become the 'last chance' to save
the family. In 21st century South Korea, where issues around
religious freedom have been brought to the limelight due to this practice,
‘forced conversion’ continues unabated. This paper intends to serialise the
distressing appeals of victims who have had to endure human rights violations
and oppression through forced conversion, and are otherwise unable to voice
their plea.
'Impossible to
escape' and imprisoned twice
Window nails fixed, door locks fitted
Locks increased as confinement is resisted
“Coercive conversion official avoids imprisonment
After I pointed
out their illegal acts, the official was enraged and fled.”
Cries for help...Police respond
[Cheonji Ilbo = Reporter Kang Soo-kyung] The main targets
and victims of forced conversion are women; in particular, unmarried daughters who
are often subjected to forced conversion programmes - abducted and confined without
opportunity to resist. Parents are fully affirmed that their daughter may
choose Shincheonji, which is established by established churches as heresy, and
are worried that their child would
suffer from runaway, divorce, family breakdown, and monetary damage because of
the rumor spread from the established Church. However, victims maintain that damage
is caused by forced conversion programme pastors who destroy the relationship
between parents and their child because of his or her affiliation to Shincheonji
Church. All such barbaric activities are committed through deception and
manipulation of the family. Mi-yeon Lee, who is a female in her 30s, underwent
forced conversion while confined twice. She was abducted, dragged into a car
and stripped of her identity as she was ordered to remove all her clothing, including
her underwear. The following is a full series of events.
“I am a young woman in my 30s who was
living a normal life”
I would like to recount my story being kicked out of my house and having to endure
two forced conversion programs for simply being a believer at Shincheonji
Church.
From February 2nd-15th 2019, I underwent a forced conversion
programme in confined lodgings in Chungnam for about 2 weeks. The way that my
entire family went about celebrating my grandfather's birthday in Chungbuk was
not like any ordinary family trip. On our way back to Seoul after meeting
relatives, my father suddenly parked the car on a remote alleyway and my mother
grabbed my cell phone. A taxi was stationed behind us, which my Dad forced me to
go into. I had heard about cases of forced conversion through friends, so expecting
to be dragged away by force at that very moment, I resisted and wailed out loud.
All my wailing was to no avail. My parents grasped my arms on each side, wrenched
them in, and forced me into the taxi. Then in order to conceal the route to the
obscure location that I would have seen, they blindfolded me with clothing,
making it impossible for me to see where we were going. Upon arrival, the taxi
driver and lodgings owner arranged the luggage and prepared food. The door was securely
locked behind me to prevent me from escaping. I was frightened and humiliated
because the methods used by forced conversion pastors were so vicious, and I had heard of a number of experiences from friends
who had suffered great mental and physical anguish from forced conversion.
I had naturally assumed that I would go back to my everyday life after our family
gathering, but I was confined in lodgings without knowing anything. While being
in a state of psychological trauma, my family then began showing me a constant
supply of slanderous videos about Shincheonji Church. About 10 days later,
Secretary Shin started talking to me, as if she was worried about me and knew
nothing, telling me, "You’re in a
lot of trouble. What parts of the Bible made you want to receive counselling?"
She pushed me into a situation where I had to choose between watching or calling
in an expert for counselling. Moreover, my father who had been employed at a company
for more than 29 years and lived a devoutly religious life told me, “If you don't change your ways, I’ll leave
my job.” I had lost my cell phone and was locked in these lodgings, but
there was nothing I could do. Although I didn't want counselling, I ultimately had
no choice but to receive it.
One evening, my father and brother unlocked the door and sneaked out to make a
call.
On the 15th of February, after having talked to Secretary Shin,
Secretary Shin came to the lodgings where I was confined
and told me that the doctrine of Shincheonji Church was false, and she continued
to carry out the forced conversion programme by making personal attacks against
the chairman of Shincheonji Church. Suffocating from this conversion programme
and struggling to sustain myself mentally and physically, I cried out for help through
the bathroom windows. My father stopped me from yelling while pastor Shin, who
had forced me to undergo this programme, secretly left.
A long while later, a police officer arrived following a third party report. I
told police officers that I had been incarcerated by relatives, but they didn’t
believe me. I asked them to get me out of there, but they delayed. I kept on
saying, “I’m being forcibly imprisoned
and I want to get out.” It was a long time later that I was finally able to
escape.
Following the first case of forced conversion, peace and mutual trust among my family
was shattered. So I went back home with my parents after they assured me they
wouldn't do the same thing again. They told me I must know that Shincheonji
Church is false and they made me watch slanderous videos against Shincheonji
Church by Evangelist Yoon who runs the forced conversion programme.
About three months passed when, in May 2019 on my way home in the car after eating
out with family to celebrate my mother's birthday, my cell phone was confiscated.
I was forced to undergo conversion a second time with raw wounds from my initial
experience.
After being moved to the back seat, my mother wrenched my arms in so that I
couldn't move. She told me to undress after we passed a secluded place. Strongly
resisting with tears flowing down, I removed my underwear.
"I'm an adult, and my father and
younger brother are also in the car. Don't treat me like this again.
Please!"
I told them to stop countless times, but my mother had already lost all reasoning.
Fearful of being re-abducted, I had usually kept a GPS tracking device on me,
but I had taken off my clothes and changed into new ones beforehand after being
searched with a metal detector.
I was crying tears of shame and humiliation as I anticipated having to go
through this terrifying ordeal once again.
Arriving two hours later with blindfolds on, the room’s windows were taped with
wood and tightly nailed shut to block any view of the outside world. It was
also taped to block the sun, and the door was locked in such a way that it
could not be opened with a key.
I tried every way to escape, but to no avail. My mother even threatened to tie
my hands and feet if I tried to escape again. I had already experienced it
once, so I knew all about the horrors of forced conversion. But I couldn't just
sit still. My family's surveillance became more intense, but I constantly
attempted to escape. I used tools in a variety of ways through my body and
voice, shouting "Please help
me", and I tried to forcefully open the window with a piece of wood.
As a result of my continued attempts to escape, one more lock was placed on the
front door.
Mum told me, "If you try to run away
this time, I won't let you go." She tied up my hands and feet with a
pressure bandage and placed a pisspot in the room, instilling a sense of fear
that I would never be able to get out.
One day, my mother told me, "Don't
be surprised when a man, who is my acquaintance, comes from time to time to help
you." From that day on, a man who I
didn't know often came to the lodgings, nailed all the windows shut and gave me
food. I was locked in the room with my brother, prohibited from escaping. All
rooms, toilets and kitchen windows were nailed and poorly ventilated, and the
large doors were closed with wardrobes, so I had to stay in the dark all day.
During continued confinement, my mother told me, "Even if you try to escape, I have already told the lodgings’
owner, so that no one can help you. I’ll keep you here for months or years
until you tell me you’ll agree to stop going to Shincheonji Church."
For two weeks, I was constantly thinking about how I could escape, and I tried
not to sleep and somehow find a way to escape, but whenever I failed I became
so desperate and even thought that I might die. I thought I had no option but
to receive ‘conversion counselling’ before getting out of this place, so I agreed
to receiving it.
As time passed, my stamina fell more and more, and
I was forced to watch conversion education videos with my family from five to
six hours a day. It was a video prepared by Guri Chodae Church (Pastor
Hyun-wook Shin) which was full of personal slander and compelled me to answer
'Yes' or 'No' alone. My family would become frustrated if they didn’t receive the
response they wanted.
During forced conversion, I was able to observe my parents’ behaviour using a
phone clone, and I could see a huge change in their expression, tone and
behaviour before and after usage. I didn't want to listen anymore to the
conversion pastor and be forced to convert, but it was so painful that I
couldn't get out of this prison without going through this process, so I had to
listen and give answers I didn't want to give.
After six weeks of imprisonment, Secretary Shin came again. As soon as she
arrived, she talked with my brother for about 40 minutes, then came in and
said, "You have to handle this
period well. Think about your family and honestly reflect why this is happening
to you."
I was distressed about the situation and couldn't see what crime she had
committed, so I told Secretary Shin to convince my parents to get me out of there
because it was wrong for her to pretend that she didn't know why I was
confined, and continue ignoring it.
I also told her that I knew my parents were using a phone clone to communicate
with her from time to time, instructing my parents how they should respond to
my actions. This clearly wasn't the right way and I kept asking her to let me
out, but Secretary Shin responded embarrassingly, “This is a family affair, I'm not involved," and maintained
that it was my parents who had forced me to attend the conversion programme. Without
ceasing, I continued to convince Secretary Shin to tell my parents to free me from
my imprisonment. She eventually got mad and left the place.
For more than a week, I kept telling my parents that this was wrong, and I kept
trying to get out of this prison, but it was all to no avail. Since my father
used to come and go every weekend because of work commitments during the week, I
thought I would leave a note outside as a final attempt to escape while he was
away at work.
When my mother and brother went off to do other things for a while, I went into
the bathroom and placed a hand-written note into a small insect hole, writing, “Please contact the police because I'm being
imprisoned. Please report this to the police." My mother and younger
brother ran up to me, grabbed my arms to drag me out of the bathroom and told
me to be quiet. After a while, the police were dispatched following a third
party report, and I was finally able to escape.
Following forced conversion, I had to receive psychiatric and dermatological
care, family medicine and more to receive treatment from excessive
psychological and physical trauma caused by two separate human rights
violations that caused depression and having to take medication. Due to anxiety
and fear, it was difficult to heal a heart broken by avoidance behaviour, fatigue, hair loss, and various emotional trauma.
In South Korea, where freedom of religion supposedly exists, there mustn’t be
further victims like me. Forced conversion tramples all over individuals’ human
rights and must be permanently eradicated.
To read the original article as published in Cheonji Ilbo, please click here⇨
