Noah Brown: December 2018

Human Rights Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs (HAC) speaks out against coercive conversion

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Human Rights Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs (HAC) is an organisation that supports victims whose civil rights have been violated and works to protect their freedom of religion. It was established in August 2007 in response to the plea of seven victims. Its purpose is to...

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Shincheonji Church’s Zion Christian Mission Center overflows with people

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Following the recent graduation of 1737 students from Zion Christian Mission Center into Shincheonji church of ...

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185 foreign media publicise the recent “Ban Coercive Conversion” Advertisement in the NY Times

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In the lead-up to the one year anniversary of the death of Ms. Gu (27), murdered on January 9th 2018 for refusing to ...

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Overview of Matthias Tribe's Graduation Ceremony for 1737 graduates

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#Matthias #Shincheonji_Church #Zion_Christian_Mission_Center #CCK Last Sunday, 1737 people - both Korean and foreign - ...

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Zion Christian Mission Center Class 108-10, Matthias Tribe Graduation Ceremony and Dedication Service of Cheongju Church

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#Matthias_Graduation #Shincheonji_Church #Zion_Christian_Mission_Center On 23rd December 2018 (12noon), Shincheonji ...

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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.

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Christian Broadcasting System (CBS) ordered to pay damages of 50 million Korean Won (c.£35,000)

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On 1st November 2018, the Christian Broadcasting System (CBS) was ordered by Seoul Southern District Court to pay ...

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Shincheonji Church of Jesus Exposes the Current Condition of Christianity in Korea: 12,000 Cases from 2008-2018

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#Shincheonji_church #RememberGu #CCK #HumanRights #Coercive_Conversion_Program #Ban_CCP With growing global media ...

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First-hand insight into coercive conversion education: the case of Mr. Yoo-mi Kang

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#RememberGu #CCK #HumanRights#Coercive_Conversion_Program #Ban_CCP This is the image of a church building in Daejeon ...

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Shincheonji church exposes the deeds of the Christian Council of Korea

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In the wake of growing global media coverage over the death of Ms. Ji-In Gu from the religious coercive conversion ...

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Faith in God’s Covenant and Betrayal

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After the betrayal of Adam and Noah’s worlds, God came to Abraham and promised him about future events, which God ...

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Latest global media coverage of “coercive conversion” by the Christian Council of Korea (CCK)

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Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his ...

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Coercive conversion & the imminent fall of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK)

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“Denominations who exercise those actions are not Christian. They are extremist and anti-Christian. I want to ask ...

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“Ban Coercive Conversion” in NYTimes raises human rights concerns in democratic South Korea

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#RememberGu #CCK #HumanRights #Coercive_Conversion_Program #Ban_CCP A non-profit advertisement entitled “Ban Coercive ...

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Shortly after the murder of 25-year-old Ms. Ji-In Gu, rallies were held simultaneously throughout several cities in the Republic of Korea on 28^th January 2018. Cities included Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Busan, Gwangju and Jeonju with a total turnout of 140,000 people. With banners raised high, participants urged for the punishment of forced conversion pastors and criminalisation of their coercive conversion programme which has led to two murders, 1000 kidnappings of Korean youth and severe family division and social exclusion.

Those responsible for designing and implementing this programme are pastors of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK). It involves manipulating a parent into forcibly taking his or her child to a confined location for weeks and months where they are subjected to repeated conversion education in an attempt to get them to sign and convert from their minor religion to the mainstream Korean Presbyterian church to which these pastors belong. Victims who do not comply are put into psychiatric wards in exchange for money. Is this not an outright violation of basic human rights disguised behind religious motives? It utterly disregards the freedom of religion enshrined within the Korean Constitution.

Rallies were sparked by the death of Ms. Gu, who received coercive conversion education in a Catholic monastery by pastors and evangelists of the Christian Cult Counselling of Korea for a period of 44 days and, after her escape, pled in a letter to the then-Korean president for justice before being re-captured and killed. This is the second death resulting from such a practice after the first in 2007. The number of such cases is increasing nationwide and is becoming a huge societal issue.

The rallies included a commemoration to the life of Ms. Gu and exposure of the practice of coercive conversion through video broadcasts and various performances.

The widespread practice of coercive conversion by pastors of the CCK and its support by Christian Broadcasting System (CBS) must come to an end. In the words of Mr. Ok-Soon Park, one of the main organisers of the rally in Daejeon, "In order to prevent further injustice in a climate where more than 1000 people nationwide have become victims of coercive conversion, it is imperative to enforce legal punishment on these criminal pastors who are leading coercive conversion programmes and prohibit the practice."

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Human Rights Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs (HAC) speaks out against coercive conversion

Shincheonji Church’s Zion Christian Mission Center overflows with people

185 foreign media publicise the recent “Ban Coercive Conversion” Advertisement in the NY Times

Overview of Matthias Tribe's Graduation Ceremony for 1737 graduates

Zion Christian Mission Center Class 108-10, Matthias Tribe Graduation Ceremony and Dedication Service of Cheongju Church

Christian Broadcasting System (CBS) ordered to pay damages of 50 million Korean Won (c.£35,000)

Shincheonji Church of Jesus Exposes the Current Condition of Christianity in Korea: 12,000 Cases from 2008-2018

First-hand insight into coercive conversion education: the case of Mr. Yoo-mi Kang

Shincheonji church exposes the deeds of the Christian Council of Korea

Faith in God’s Covenant and Betrayal

Latest global media coverage of “coercive conversion” by the Christian Council of Korea (CCK)

Coercive conversion & the imminent fall of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK)

“Ban Coercive Conversion” in NYTimes raises human rights concerns in democratic South Korea

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