What the hell happened at S Church?
In SBS 'I want to know' broadcast on the 19th, the reality of S Church was dug up with the subtitle 'Missing: Missing Children - What Happened at S Church'.
In 2003, Ok-bun Kim's son and wife suddenly disappeared one day along with their grandson, Geon-woo. Those who lived while serving in a church in Incheon moved at some point, cut contact and disappeared.
When 9 years passed and disappeared, the 7-year-old grandson became a 16-year-old teenager and came to visit his grandmother Kim Ok-bun alone. At first glance, Geon-woo looked very dwarfed and his face was full of anxiety. What the hell happened to him?
Geon-woo, who became a 25-year-old young man, said that he and his parents joined the S Church at the age of seven. And the church said that they would raise him like Samuel, so they did not send him to school, a 7-year-old boy, and made him sleep alone in the middle of the temple and only memorize the Bible. And since the age of 11, he has been subjected to terrible labor. If they disobeyed, what followed was assault, and not only slapped them on the spot, but also made them fast and violently assaulted them with tools.
In response, the production team directly visited the church where Gun-woo was detained for 9 years. Surrounded by a wooden fence, the inside is almost invisible from the outside. As a result, ferocious rumors circulated around this church throughout the village. Also, he showed great caution to the crew who visited the church for coverage, filmed the reporters, and reported the reporters to the police, attracting attention.
Geon-woo recalled the time when he first joined the church, saying, "When I was 7 years old, there was a meeting in Geumneung, Jeju Island, and after that, I cleaned up my house, bought and sold, quit my job, loaded my car into the church." And the leader of the revival meeting in which the Gunwoo family participated was Rev. Choi, who miraculously survived after being chosen as the Lord's servant during a cancer battle 30 years ago.
He said that after overcoming cancer, he opened S Church and started pastoral activities to spread the will of God. Also, the doctrine he considers the most important is "Love your neighbor as yourself." And the evaluation of the S Church and its members was not just about ugly rumors. However, what Geon-woo and the children experienced at church was different from what you see from the outside.
While separated from their parents, the children were trained to live in a community with their peers, listen to sermons about the end times during the 90-minute service three times a day, and visit all over the country for evangelism work. And it turns out that most of these children were brought here by their parents.
Then he had nine-year-olds look after the younger ones, and teenagers with kitchen work and hard labor. Some of these things were dangerous for children to do. They mobilized children as young as 9 and 10 to build the temple of the church. Many children were injured in the process. The sight of the children who were forced to work like this seemed strange to the eyes of the residents. And the reason the children worked so hard was not to get hit and starve.
Eun-woo Hong, who had been detained for 14 years at the S Church, shed tears as she recalled the painful memories of assault. And he said that what was more unbearable than violence was to starve children for at least three to five days after the assault, and to continue working in the meantime.
Cut off from the world, the children who thought that the church was everything in the world could not even dare to run away, thinking that it was normal and normal.
In response to these victims' claims, the expert said, "The children's right to life, development, and protection should be guaranteed. Since there were actions that were all violated, this can be seen as a site of thorough child human rights violations.
Pastor Choi, who needed the labor of the faithful while expanding the church's profit business, invited children to Gongju. The children arrived at Gongju by boat and worked on the farm without even having time to breathe. Pastor Choi prospered a farm business that mobilized children, and the Blueberry House in Gongju, built by believers over two years, was huge.
Blueberry experts were surprised by estimating that the church's farm revenue was "about 180 million a year." However, blueberry farms weren't just for Gongju, and the church's business wasn't just blueberry farms. It turns out that the children worked in the fields and in junkyards.
Where were the profits from mobilizing children for various businesses? As a result, the victims said that Pastor Choi and his family seemed to spend more than ordinary believers.He also claimed that the church and farm site were in the joint name of the church members, but in reality it was nothing but the property of Pastor Choi.
The members who reported to the police at the reporter's visit complained of their injustice. They raised their voices that they were proud enough to be able to enter the church right away and check it out. However, church executives said they were not allowed to film or visit, and said, "If you really want to learn, stay here for a year."
And dismissing all the stories of the informants as exaggerated, he said, "From the beginning to the end, everything is voluntary. From adults to children, we are of one mind. I did not work, but I volunteered to help the needy." "He said.
At the same time, they repeatedly emphasized the innocence and integrity of Pastor Choi, and said that it was not true that the profits from church business went into the pockets of the Choi family. He also claimed that the assaults the children suffered were corporal punishment and discipline.
The informants who went to school and worked hard during the time they had to play with their friends were very envious of the free children outside. But there was a reason they couldn't escape easily. He instilled fear and hatred of the outside world every time he worshiped. Also, if they escaped, they were caught as an example and imprisoned and fasted. And the fact that they had no family to turn to was one of the main reasons the children couldn't run away.
When Gun-woo heard that he met his grandmother and grandfather by chance in Jangsu, Jeolla-do, he was hopeful and thoroughly planned for an escape. I saved 30,000 won to escape, packed my bags the day before I planned to escape, and left the church after checking that everyone was asleep at 4 am the next day. I got on the bus, but the anxiety didn't go away easily.
Hong Eun-woo said that he could not forget the day he escaped 10 years ago. He had no choice but to come out alone because he thought he would be caught if he came out with his brother. Eun-woo said that the face of his brother who cried bitterly is still engraved in his heart. And he said that he was still afraid because the pastor said that he would be punished by God if he went out.
But what did the parents who went to S church with their children do when they see this abuse? Geon-woo's parents said, "Even if you do resent, you should blame your parents, not the church and not the pastor," he said.
They continued, "He is a child who had a greater faith than me. When he was 7 years old, he refused to go to school on his own, and he received approval from the pastor to live as a missionary." They said, "Mom, I have never said that I hate me. I don't know if I'm here now," he said.
In response, the production team said that at the time, Geon-woo was afraid and scared, but even though he wanted to speak, he did not seem to be able to. Then the parents showed the position that they did not understand what was scary. And the bombing of Wonsan and the stabbing of the thigh with needles were not punishment or abuse, but rather the dimensions of discipline and corporal punishment, and they took the same position as church members.
The expert said, "For parents, it may have been the best choice for their parents' life, but it may be the worst choice for children. In that sense, the first perpetrator is the parent. The second perpetrator is everyone and everyone in the Because they co-located and colluded to perpetrate the perpetrators. And the person who leads the community is at the heart of the perpetrators.”
What kind of person is Pastor Choi who leads S Church? Under the pretext of an obedience test, he persuaded a new believer to undress in front of all his followers and even sexually harassed him. He also created fear and anxiety by making children into God's elite soldiers, making them ready to die whatever he commanded.
And he heard the entangled screams of several people saying it was the sound of hell, and played a recording tape saying it was the sound of the suffering of a famous actress who committed suicide he met in hell.
He repeatedly heard a voice that was difficult to even hear, and Pastor Choi taught that leaving is a betrayal by saying, “This is what happens if you betray.” He also emphasized the end and said that you must be in church to go to heaven without receiving 666 votes (verify chips).
He quoted the Bible and preached that Verichip was a ticket to hell. VeriChip is a human implantable chip developed and announced by an American IT company in 2001. And the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of VeriChip for medical purposes, and VeriChip has been commercialized as a personal identification and payment method.
In addition to the terrifying sermons, he also held the ritual of laying on his eyes twice a week to drive out the devil. The informants who received the prayer for ordination of the eyes to drive away the devil by putting their thumbs on both eyes and pressing them hard said that it was painful enough to pass out.
However, Pastor Choi insisted that the devil came out of the body as he watched the children writhe in pain. He also explained that vomiting for a few days after laying on his eyes is the devil and bad things coming out.
The expert said, "The eye nerve is directly connected to the brain. It is connected to the nerve that controls the heartbeat called the vagus nerve, so if sudden pressure is applied, cardiac arrhythmias or heart rhythm disturbance may occur. Death is also possible." He said the laying on of eyes prayer was a very dangerous act.
Pastor Choi, who is acting dangerously, a professor of theology said, "Conspiracy theories, ordination of eyes, and verichips are a trend. They brought such things. Benchmarking someone's work and upgrading it and using it for personal self-interest. appearing,” he said.
The place where Pastor Choi, who was chosen by God, prayed about 30 years ago while fighting cancer, was the Hallelujah Prayer Center, which was classified as a cult because of abnormal ordination prayers and plastic surgery. Also, the sound of hell that made the children tremble in fear was made by a pastor of a heretical church.
Pastor Choi insisted on the end of the rapture of the Dami Missionary Church in 1992. He said, "It will be a rapture soon, and after the rapture, World War 3 will happen and the earth will be over within 7 years." He set up a tent and lived in a community and waited for the rapture.
S Church, which started in a semi-subterranean room with about 20 members, has grown in size and now has churches in five areas. And Pastor Choi divided the ranks of the members and gave them power, and the members who took care of the children frequently used violence against them, starved them, and imprisoned them. He was also sexually harassed.
Haneul, who was sexually harassed by a male Shinto in her management, was 14 years old at the time. He said, "The next day, I was surprised that it was the same as usual. It happened to me more about 4, 5, 5, 6 times at night."
Subin, who was 16 years old, was also sexually harassed by a believer and reported the damage to Pastor Choi's closest aides. But the answer that came back was absurd. The person who heard about Mr. Subin's damage said, "Why didn't you scream?" "It's your fault. Didn't you give your body because you liked him?" And the devotees made brothers only 9 and 10 years old slap each other in the face.
Accordingly, the production team returned to the church to meet Pastor Choi. However, the believers were very displeased with the production team's visit and raised their voices. When asked why they didn't send their children to school, the church insisted that it was the parents' choice, saying, "We don't educate the world, and we teach people to love people by raising a good heart and a desire to do righteousness in people's hearts. If you live by faith, you will go to heaven." He said that he is educating children about character through homeschooling.
Pastor Choi's closest aides emphasized to the production team several times that S Church is a free place. However, an expert analyzed their conversation and said, "The PD has never talked about arrest, but he says arrest three times. It is highly likely that he used a word that he used every time he didn't know." I wonder if these words would have flowed out because of the arrest.”
And the closest person said that ordination of eyes is a religious thing, "There are a lot of spiritual problems and people who do it feel a lot of pain. Of course, it's a little hard, but no one was blinded and no one was harmed.
During the interview, the production team obtained the verdict on the assault on the eyes 8 years ago. This was the interpretation of the court's interpretation of the eye ordination ceremony performed by two members of the S Church who had never met an 87-year-old man in Gyeongsangnam-do. At that time, the believers insisted that it was only a massage while doing missionary work, not an assault. However, the court ruled that it was an assault charge, saying, "Even though they said that they were in pain at the time, the defendants continued to exercise their tangible power to achieve the missionary purpose." The Church of S drew a line saying that it had nothing to do with the church because it was not conducted under the direction of Pastor Choi.
Gun-woo was worried that nine years had passed since he escaped, and there might still be children in the same situation as him. The church claimed that there were no children. However, during the interview, the crew witnessed a three-year-old child inside the church. When asked about this in more detail, the church refused to give an accurate answer.
It was confirmed that a resident of the Gongju area reported child abuse five years ago. An official from the Office of Education, who conducted an on-site investigation according to the procedure at the time, said, "The problem was pointed out that the problem was not sending children to school and not teaching them properly, but they said that working while working is similar to their community rules, and that children should also work." did.
Even though the relevant authorities judged it as child abuse, no action was taken at the time. What is the reason? The official said, "The school can't really do anything right now if the parents don't send it. If it is understood that the children are safe there, it can't be used."
And there was no record of reporting to the police. The police, who were dispatched at the time, explained, "I visited several times. The case was closed because there were no suspicions related to the crime."
Regarding S Church and Pastor Choi, the lawyer said, "I was brainwashed by the doctrine and made it impossible to come out. And there were continuous forced labor and harsh acts within it. It seems to be a crime of heavy confinement under the Criminal Act, and the pastor directed and oversaw everything. I think he should be held accountable for all these crimes.”
As a result of the coverage, there was not one person who saw the children of the church and reported child abuse. Nevertheless, the children could not be saved through the report. In addition, even though the compulsory education system is being implemented, there were no school or local government officials who came to see them because they did not leave school among the seven informants.
Pastor Choi, who stole children's time and dreams because of their faith, it is time to answer whether this is the teaching of God that the Bible speaks of. He also stressed the need for an apology and atonement for the outright child abuse.
(SBS Entertainment News Editor Kim Hyo-jung)