Malaysian police arrest and investigate South Korean cult pastors

[China Anti-Cult Network, December 8, 2020 news, correspondent: Liu Qi] According to south Korean media "Korea Times" reported on December 3, 2020, a South Korean priest living in Malaysia, accused of sexually assaulting multiple men (including boys), is under investigation by the Malaysian police after being arrested. The victims included several deaf and severely hearing impaired persons.

After receiving reports from multiple victims, police in Penang, Malaysia, arrested the pastor surnamed Jee on November 23. The case is under investigation, and the Korea Times has not revealed the full name of the pastor.

Chi, 54, had previously worked in a church where believers were mostly deaf, the report said. The church is an offshoot of a large church in The Guro-gu, Seoul, South Korea, and the leaders of a Christian organization in South Korea believe that the Guro-ku Metropolitan Church is actually a cult. The head of the Guro District Grand Church was sentenced last year to 16 years in prison for raping and sexually assaulting several female members of his church and is currently serving a prison sentence.

At present, the Malaysian police have sent a note to the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Malaysia on the arrest of Pastor Chi and the fact that he is under investigation. The Penang Police Chief said the police had received multiple reports of sexual assault against disabled boys in Penang and that there might be cases related to the case in other areas. The priest himself was deaf and mute. Police have confiscated pastor Chi's mobile phone to assist in the investigation. A source told the Korea Times that since 1998, Pastor Ji surnamed Ji has traveled to and from Malaysia for at least 22 years in the name of visiting friends. Pastor Chi initially worked as a missionary in another church in Penang, where the majority of believers are deaf, and then trained for two years at a church in South Korea before returning to Malaysia in 2009 to join his current church.

The source also told the Korea Times that several church believers were harmed by the South Korean pastor and that after being sexually assaulted, "they were tortured by trauma and depression." One of the victims was only 10 years old when he was first sexually assaulted by a priest surnamed Chi. Sources revealed that the known victims are all men, they have a low level of education, simple thinking, and most of the victims have severe hearing impairment. The pastor surnamed Chi deceived them into saying that touching and kissing were part of Korean culture.

The Korea Times said the pastor, surnamed Chi, was allegedly married and had two adult children.

According to the report of the "Korea Times" and combined with previous foreign media reports, the China Anti-Cult Network initially believes that the cult where Pastor Chi surnamed Chi belongs belongs to the "Central Church of All Nations" in South Korea.

According to Agence France-Presse reported on May 17, 2019, Lee Jae-rok, the leader of South Korea's "Central Church of All Nations" who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping eight female believers, appealed against the verdict. On 16 May, the Court of Appeal, on 16 May, on the basis of upheld the original sentence, sentenced him to a total of 16 years in prison, after another female victim accused him of rape.

In 2018, Lee Jae-rok, the leader of the cult of the Central Church of all Peoples in South Korea, was tried for the first time at the Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea. Source: Agence France-Presse

In 2018, Lee Jaerock was convicted more than 40 times for raping eight women.

Lee Jae-ulu, 75, now (2019), denied the allegations and appealed, claiming that the victims were all highly educated people, so "it is impossible for anyone to sexually assault them". The Seoul High Court upheld the ninth victim after Lee Jae-rok's trial and extended his original sentence (15 years) by one year.

Judge Seong Ji-yong said: "Lee Jae-ry, as an influential religious figure, habitually rapes young female believers by exploiting the faith and obedience of these believers. ”

In 1982, Lee jae-rok established the Manmin Central Church in Seoul's Guro District, which had only 12 adherents. Guro Ward was formerly a poverty area in Seoul. As of 2018, the church's membership has grown to 130,000, and it has a brightly lit auditorium, a sprawling headquarters, and a website full of hype about healing miracles. The cult has built a multilingual website and television station (GCN), which spreads globally through the Internet and has also developed in individual parts of China.

"Central Church of All Nations", also known as "Central Holy Church of All Nations". On the denomination's website, Lee Jae-rok has many titles, such as President of the United Holy Church of Jesus, President of the United Holy Theological Seminary, President of the National Evangelical News Agency, President of the Church of Light and Salt, and Permanent President of the Christian Revival Mission Association. The main propaganda materials are "Seeing Life Before Death" and "The Way of the Cross". Lee Jae-rye calls himself a "world-class revival lecturer" and "God" who "ignited the fire of the Holy Spirit" and healed "all diseases."

Some members of the Central Church of all nations even believe that Lee Jae-rak is God. Because its doctrine is very different from orthodox Christianity, the major sects of Korean Christianity have always regarded this sect as a heretic.

On April 16, 1999, the General Christian Federation of Korea designated him a "heretic." The General Council of Churches of Korea adopted the report of five researchers of the Committee on Discriminating Heresies on Lee Jae-ro's "heretics of extreme mysticism." The study points out Lee's heretical remarks on the concept of revelation, the theory of the eschatology and the theory of the afterlife, the theory of confession, and the theory of salvation.