JMS leader Jung Myung-seok sentenced to 33 years in prison at first trial on charges of sexually assaulting female followers

[Financial News] Another lengthy prison sentence has been handed down to Jung Myung-seok, head of Christian Gospel Mission (JMS), who was tried on charges of sexually assaulting female followers.
On the 19th, the 11th Criminal Division of the Daejeon District Court sentenced Jung to 33 years in prison for quasi-rape and other charges.
The court also ordered the disclosure of his personal information, barred him from working at institutions related to children, adolescents, and persons with disabilities for 10 years, and ordered him to wear an electronic tracking device for 15 years.
Jung was indicted on charges of brainwashing 16 female followers into believing he was the “Messiah,” rendering them incapable of resisting, and then molesting or sexually assaulting them between 2018 and 2022 at a retreat center in Wolmyeong-dong, Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan County, South Chungcheong Province, among other locations.
This is a separate case from the one in which the Supreme Court upheld a 17-year prison sentence for raping Maple, a Hong Kong national and female follower, and sexually molesting Amy, an Australian national and female follower, as well as a Korean female follower.
After Jung received a final 10-year prison sentence for rape causing injury and other charges and was released in February 2018, disclosures by Maple and others brought to public attention the fact that he had again committed sex crimes against female followers. A series of additional complaints then led to a separate trial.
Jung was first indicted in this case in May 2024. Additional cases were subsequently consolidated, and the trial continued for more than two years before the first-instance verdict was delivered today.
Jung denied all the charges, saying he had never had physical contact with the female followers and that they had not been in a state of psychological incapacity to resist, but the court rejected his claims.
The court said all 16 victims gave detailed and consistent testimony about the locations of the crimes and other details, to a degree that would have been difficult to describe without firsthand experience.
It ruled that they had been repeatedly indoctrinated to deify Jung and obey him absolutely, leaving them in a state of psychological incapacity to resist in which critical judgment was impossible.
In explaining the sentence, the court said Jung held absolute authority as the religious group's leader and repeatedly sexually molested multiple female followers by exploiting the hierarchy.
It added that the offenses were repeatedly committed despite his previous prison sentence, through the use of the religious power structure and influence he had built up over a long period.
[email protected] Ahn Ga-eul Reporter