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.
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
Memorial Service held for Korean
Woman Killed during Religious Conversion
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