Religion In South Korea

"Deprogramming has been declared illegal in all democratic countries, but is still practiced in South Korea. More than 3,000 members of [the] Shincheonji [Church of Jesus] have been kidnapped in South Korea for purposes of deprogramming. Two female Shincheonji devotees have died in connection with deprogramming. …South Korea needs a law, but not against Shincheonji or the so-called “cults.” It needs a law aligning South Korea with other democratic countries by outlawing the crime of deprogramming and forced conversion, and punishing hate speech against religious minorities."

"“The requiring by Respondent [the Army Training Center] of Complainants’ attendance at either a Protestant, Buddhist, Catholic, or Won Buddhist ceremony, the court concluded, demonstrates that Respondent officially acknowledged and encouraged the four religions and preferred them to other religions or irreligion. The Court notes in this connection that the constitutional principle of the separation of religion and politics serves the purpose of guaranteeing the diversity laying the foundation of a democratic society. In the context of this principle, the State maintains a neutral position, acknowledging the possibility of eclectic religious convictions, atheism, etc. The conduct of Respondent cannot be permitted under the principle of separation of religion and politics as it amounts to favorable treatment of particular religions in violation of State neutrality to religion.”"

"In case of “covered” evangelism where the name of the group to which the missionaries belong is not disclosed, whether the converts lost their freedom of religion making the missionary strategy illegal is a question, the Supreme Court said, that can only be “determined individually and specifically, by considering the age of the other party, educational background, social experience including prior religious life, the relationship between the missionary and the other party, the circumstances in which the other party chose the religion, and the changes in attitude or life before and after the other person chose the religion.”"

"On April 9, a press release by the Seventh-day Adventist Church reported about an important decision by the Supreme Court of South Korea, the first of this kind, about the right of an Adventist student seeking admission to a university to have an interview scheduled on Saturday before sunset moved to a different time or day."

"We wonder whether those who receive Pastor Jin [Yong-Sik] knew that he also operated as a deprogrammer and was sentenced by the Supreme Court of Korea for taking part in illegal deprogramming. In 2020, [civil] rights activist Willy Fautré reported in a scholarly study of deprogramming in South Korea that. “In 2007, Pastor Jin Yong-Sik was prosecuted and found guilty for sending a member of the to a psychiatric institution. According to a news story published in Newshankuk on 24 October 2008, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison with two years’ probation for coercive de-conversion. In 2012, there was a public uproar when the investigation about his complaint against [civil] rights activists revealed that Pastor Jin had earned more than one billion won (850,000 EUR) with his de-conversion business.”"

"Numerous leaders of Korean new religious movements face accusations of misappropriating funds from their organizations’ accounts for personal use. However, the financial boundaries between the group and the leader often blur in many spiritual movements. Additionally, donors typically do not differentiate between the two. Consequently, leaders charged with embezzlement are accused of stealing from their own pockets."

"The only “crime” Shinangchon seems to have committed is voting—and doing so in a way that some politicians do not like. If this is enough to spark calls for dissolution, then no religious community in Korea is safe. Any group with a concentrated membership—Buddhist temples in rural areas, left-leaning Catholic parishes, conservative Protestant megachurches in Seoul—could be accused of political influence simply because its members share similar beliefs and vote accordingly."

"One is not baptized into Shincheonji, and members proudly proclaim that theirs is the only religion one joins by graduating after an exam. The exam, which many fail and is by no means a mere formality, comes after a demanding course, and includes [three hundred (300)] questions candidates should answer in writing. They include all the most typical and peculiar doctrines of Shincheonji. This means that it is impossible to become a member of Shincheonji without understanding what the movement is all about."

"The idea that Shincheonji “spread the plague” was still mentioned in some Western media in 2022, despite the fact that Chairman Lee had been found not guilty of any COVID-related offenses in first degree by the Suwon District Court on January 13, 2021, and on appeal by the Suwon High Court on November 30, 2021."