Shincheonji Church of Jesus is well-known for its rapid growth and celebrated its first 110,000 Graduatation Ceremony in October 2024. It was supposed to be held on October 30th at Peace Nuri Park in Paju City, but the venue reservation was cancelled on the very day of the reserved day, October 29th (Shincheonji Church reserved the space from 29th to 31st).

It’s surprising that the church hurriedly wrapped up what they were preparing and held the event at Cheongju Church, which is located further southwards. What’s more surprising is that an entity run by Gyeonggi Province, a regional government of South Korea, abruptly cancelled a reserved venue on the reserved day. The Gyeonggi Tourism Organization cited the reason for the cancellation as a 'security threat'. The specific reason was, that since Peace Nuri Park of Paju City is near North Korea, the event might cause a provocation.

Shincheonji Church of Jesus and the media outlets pointed out that the decision of the organisation – venue cancellation – is a violation of religious freedom.

Someone might be thinking, “The organisation surely managed the situation terribly. But, what makes this religious oppression?”

Here are reasons why Gyeonggi Tourism Organization’s sudden venue cancellation is a violation of religious freedom.

1. The place (and the event) was safe, even though the cancellation reason was ‘due to safety’.

– Shincheonji Church reserved the venue in July, and the organisation and the church discussed the safety matter and reviewed every detail of the composition of the event, such as the use of fireworks, speakers, ad balloons, etc., on October 16th. The organisation reviewed and confirmed that the event in Paju City was safe.

Gyeonggi Tourism Organization reassured Shincheonji Church that they wouldn’t cancel the venue reservation on October 23rd and 28th when Shincheonji Church asked if Gyeonggi Province's policy affected the venue reservation. On October 16th, Gyeonggi Province designated Paju City as one of Gyeonggi Province’s dangerous zones. Gyeonggi Tourism Organization answered that the policy was to prevent people from sending balloon messages to North Korea (some South Koreans would send messages to enlighten North Koreans. This action could provoke North Korea, so Gyeonggi Province was trying to restrict that action).

Other events at the same venue were held without restriction during October and November. Ginseng Festival used fireworks and ad balloons, which were held a week after when Paju City was designated as a danger zone. The Speaker Demo Event, which was held by the Christian Coalition of South Korea, was held on November 4th without a problem. It was within a week after the venue cancellation due to ‘safety’.

2. The cancellation was decided after an opposing rally of Christians

A so-called ‘anti Shincheonji’ group held a rally to cancel Shincheonji Church’s event. Although it’s against the law, some Korean regional governments would accept the major religions’ and denominations’ attempts at religious persecution as ‘opinions’ and cancel the contracts. Shincheonji Church of Jesus has been experiencing unjust administration by regional governments because of the civil petitions and  ‘anti-Shincheonji’ rallies for a few decades (venue reservation cancellations often happened before this one, for example).

The Constitutional Law of Korea specifies religious freedom, and no Korean should be discriminated against because of religion. The cancellation was ordered by the Gyeonggi Provincial Governor, the leader of the regional government (Gyeonggi Province). Then, the organization and the regional government violated the foundation law of its own nation!

It’s unheard of that the regional governments of an OECD member country publicly violate the Constitutional Law by trampling on religious freedom. Please pay attention to this issue and support oppressed religious people in Korea. No one should be discriminated against because of their belief.