South Korean police and prosecutors stormed today to search the headquarters of the Christian Gospel Mission sect, the subject of a recent Netflix documentary, to investigate alleged sexual abuse committed by its founder, Jung Myung-seok, against female followers of the group.
The troops entered the complex that the sect has in Geumsan, about 165 kilometers south of Seoul, on Thursday to try to obtain evidence of these alleged abuses.
Jung, 78, has been in pretrial detention since last year after two former Hong Kong and Australian cult members accused him of abusing them.
Both women recount their accusations in the documentary “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal” (“In the name of God: a divine betrayal”), co-produced by Netflix and the South Korean network MBS and which dedicates four of its eight episodes to Jung.
Since his preventive arrest, at least three other followers of the group, also known as Jesus Morning Star (JMS) or Providencia, have accused him of sexual abuse. Jung, who considers himself a messiah, was released from prison in 2018 after spending 10 years behind bars after courts convicted him of raping and other sexual abuse of several cult members and embezzlement.
A court recently rejected a request from the sect itself to prevent the broadcast of the documentary, which collects countless testimonies from former followers and activists who have tried to gather evidence of the abuses that Jung seems to have committed for decades and systematically against hundreds ( some who believe that even thousands) of followers of JMS.
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