Restrained with Sleeping Pills…Resisted Forced Conversion, but was Assaulted and Eventually Fainted (Cheonji Daily 20th May 2020)

On 20th May 2020, Cheonji Ilbo (Daily) published an article entitled "Restrained with Sleeping Pills…Resisted Forced Conversion, but was Assaulted and Eventually Fainted". This is a translation of that article.

The once unknown term 'forced conversion' 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 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 straw' to save the family. In 21st century South Korea, where issues around religious freedom have been brought to the limelight, ‘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.

Visit to a relative's house, kidnapped by my family

Caught and suffocated as I tried to escape

Peace at home shattered by conversion pastors

Bitter scepticism towards life led to attempted suicide 

[Cheonji Ilbo = Reporter Kang Soo-kyung] It is hard to conceive that a programme created by the established Church to forcibly convert Shincheonji Church members has become so prevalent in Korean society where human rights are recognised. Cases of kidnap, imprisonment and drugging with sleeping pills are disturbing, as is the violence used in the process. The life of 33-year young Dong-won Kim (pseudonym) was shattered by abuse from his family, leading to attempted suicide. Kim implores that no one else goes through the same experience. What follows is an account of Kim's appeal.

I am a 33-year-old father living in Busan with my family and daughter.

I don't have a gift for writing, but I hope that everyone will read this and it becomes a force for change so that this no longer happens.

Eight years ago, I lived under the belief that my father's school was teaching elementary and junior high school kids to help my parents work even if it was not enough.

Then one day, a call came from my aunt in Busan asking me to come to a play that evening.

In the evening, we ate dinner and had a drink.

After having enjoyed myself, I had to leave as it became late, but my aunt suddenly stopped me.

When asked why I couldn’t leave, they kept telling me to stay and eventually stopped me from leaving the house. Then my family came into my aunt's house and they all overpowered me.

I was feeling weaker, heavier and was losing my senses.

When I awoke, I found myself in my parents' car with my father on the wheel and my mother and brother watching from either side to keep me from escaping.

My cell phone and wallet had been stolen. I was dragged somewhere without understanding anything,. It was a few hours later that I saw a signpost outside the window showing that we were passing Daejeon.

Soon after, we pulled over at a motel. My family dragged me out, and I saw the first person waiting for us. My parents left while he dragged me into the motel. I was filled with anxiety and dread at the thought of being imprisoned.

Do you know what it feels like to have a family who birth and raise you, only to now kidnap and imprison you?

I pleaded with my parents to tell me why they were doing this, but my family didn't listen.

I was very fearful of the sudden change in my family's behaviour; they had always respected me. I somehow had to leave and managed to escape, but I was caught by my father and brother. When I resisted, they threw me on the ground and strangled me with the tie I was wearing until I fainted.

My eyes were becoming heavier and my body drooping and I thought I was dying. When I opened my eyes, I was being dragged up the motel staircase by my father and brother.

My mother, who was near me, was in tears.

I was confined in a room on the fourth floor. When I had passed out for the first time in my own family's hands, it seemed like familial love had collapsed in an instant, only to be replaced with treachery. 

My parents told me that I had fallen into a cult and that I had to study the Bible again because I had studied it somewhere outside the Presbyterian Christian Council of Korea (then-Chairman Ki-chong Han).

At that time, I was a grown 26-year-old man, but I felt like every facet of my private life was being exposed.

I didn’t understand. We all believed in the same God and had faith in the same Bible, so why couldn’t I study it outside church? When I was told I had to meet someone for conversion counselling, I told them I didn't want to meet anyone, but they didn’t accept that.

After keeping me in confinement, my father went out to meet someone alone, and continued to question me whenever he returned.

That’s when I began to feel that someone was quietly manipulating my father. This became clearer as time passed on.

So I was incarcerated for three days before I could return to my own home in Busan. When I returned, the situation escalated. After three days imprisonment, I lived under strict surveillance at home, and any mutual trust between us had dissipated. I became very detached from them.

Since then, my family who had trusted me became distrustful and continually suspicious of everything I did.

A peaceful family was destroyed overnight by conversion pastors.

Under such circumstances, my will to live gradually collapsed, and I was disillusioned with my life. I tried to commit suicide because of the pain.

At that time, I was anticipating marriage. It was incredibly hard seeing my life fall apart.

If it for wasn't my wife then I don’t know if...

It wasn't long before all this happened that Pastor Mo Jin - a self-proclaimed “cult expert” and senior pastor of Ansanmo Church led by Ki-Chong Han - received an injunction.

Pastor Jin instilled fear in my parents by telling them that if I remained in a cult, I would be encouraged to not only stop working and give up their studies but even leave home.

Pastor Jin further unsettled my parents by telling them that if there was a way to get me out of a cult, he would help provide them with the means to do so through conversion education.

Moreover, he manipulated my agitated parents with all kinds of lies as he demanded money.

I could barely understand how this person could be carrying out the Lord's work as a pastor.

Who is the one who really destroys homes ... .

Conversion pastors who deceive parents into carrying out all kinds of evil and trickery including imprisonment, assault and kidnap do not believe in God or Jesus.

God and Jesus commanded that we love, forgive and bless one another. Are their actions those that express love, forgiveness and blessing? I make this earnest plea that there are no further victims.

I wish you all good health, laughter and joy in your homes. Thank you!

To read the full article as published in Cheonji Daily, please click here⇨https://bit.ly/2LHo9cZ

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