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In 1999, a South Korean media company, the Seoul Broadcasting Station (SBS), made sexual allegations against Jung Myung Seok, President of Christian Gospel Mission (CGM). He was accused of ‘fleeing’ the country because of these allegations. Following SBS, media from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan also made other similar allegations against Jung. However, in 2010, in a lawsuit between the SBS and the Christian Gospel Mission (CGM), the South Korean Court ruled that the 1999 media report was biased and CGM was compensated for the damages. Additionally, in 2015, it was also reported that Jung did not ‘flee’, but travelled overseas lawfully for missionary work, because at the time, the sexual assault charges were dismissed by the prosecutors involved. Jung even returned to Korea several times during his travels and was investigated by the prosecutors about his travels.

In 2001, formal charges were made against Jung. In 2006, additional accusations were made against Jung for alleged sexual assault in China. The Chinese authorities investigated and found that there was no evidence to support criminality. In 2007, Chinese police arrested Jung, after he had been on interpol’s wanted list.

In 2008, Jung was extradited back to South Korea where he faced five charges of sexual assault and molestation from 5 different women. During the trial, one of the female accusers confessed to falsely accusing Jung of alleged crimes, and dropped her charges with prosecutors. The judge found Jung to be guilty on three out of five charges and sentenced him to 6 years imprisonment in August 2008. Jung maintained innocence appealed the original decision to the high court. However, the court upheld the sentence, and added an additional count (making it four out of five charges) against Jung, thus increasing the sentence to 10 years. After Jung was sentenced, investigative news reports emerged claiming that the judgment against Jung was unjust and without proper evidence.

In 2012, ‘anti-JMS’ groups brought new charges against Jung, while he was imprisoned. Those charges were completed dismissed by the Korean court.

In 2013, allegations were made about Jung receiving preferential treatment in prison. Those allegations were also dismissed by the Justice Minister.

Sexual Assault Allegations in the Media (1999 – 2007)
It has been claimed that while both Unification Church and Christian Gospel Mission(CGM)teach that Original sin was caused by Eve intercourse with the fallen angel turned Satan, Providence teaches this can be redeemed by having sex with Jung Myung-seok. The reports stated that the Korean court had deemed that Jung had forced female followers to have sex with him "as a religious behavior meant to save their souls". Former members have stated or testified that young and attractive women were presented to Jung as "sexual gifts", with whom he forcibly engaged in sexual act, which was explained to them as a purification rite. Apart from allegations, there has been no evidence found in Jung’s sermons and teachings that claim that salvation can be redeemed through sexual union with him. Jung’s sermons teach that people should be chaste until marriage, and make loving God as their first priority.

The media fuelled public attention surrounding sexual assault allegations began from a news story broadcast by the TV news program, The Unanswered, (ko), on the channel Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) on March 20, 1999. Over 100 alleged victims were contacted for information in the making of this series. International Christian Mission (as CGM was known then) countered with lawsuits to suppress the broadcast, libel litigation, and an organized two-month barrage of phone calls, as many as 60,000 calls per day.

News reports described that Jung ‘fled’ South Korea a day after these broadcasts. Sexual allegations continued to surface against Jung overseas, in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, and other locations. The news show The Unanswered (Korean: 그것이 알고 싶다, literally: "I Want to Know it") followed with additional episodes covering Jung's activities abroad. Subsequently, Yonhap News clarified that Jung did not ‘flee’ but was able to travel overseas lawfully, because the sexual assault charges were dismissed by the prosecutors involved. Jung even returned to Korea several times during his travels and was investigated by the prosecutors about his travels.

In Japan, there were 2,000 CGM members as of 2006, almost entirely students and graduates of prestigious colleges, and 60% women. News reports alleged that during his sojourns in Japan, Jung summoned upwards of 10 women on an almost daily basis, and under the false pretext of running a "health check" would have improper sexual encounters with them. Jung's aides are alleged to have imposed strict secrecy of these encounters with Jung, threatening the women with condemnation to hell if they told anyone what he had done. It was reported that over 100 women have fallen victim of Jung's sexual transgressions in Japan alone.

In Taiwan too, similar incidents have been reported, where many female members of his organization were ordered to undress for a "health check", be subjected various forms of sexual abuse, including having sex with him to wipe off their sins. In November 2001 the Taiwanese version of Next Magazine published the article "Korean cult leader raped over one hundred Taiwanese female college students". Allegedly involved National Taiwan University, Fu Jen Catholic University, and National Chengchi University all denied the report. The universities stated that there were no cult activities in their campuses at the time. NCCU acknowledged that there had been such activities many years ago. There had been similar reports in 1997. Taiwanese authorities investigated Jung for raping women, but he 'fled' the country. Members of EXODUS(an anti-JMS organization founded in 1999 ) soon came to Taiwan and held a press conference with an involved woman. In October 2005 Apple Daily reported that many student clubs in National Central University and other campuses are recruiting for Providence Church. These clubs hold a wide variety of activities including the "Eagle Cup" soccer tournament in Taipei city and regular model training. The paper quoted an undisclosed former church member, that the church's "modeling department" is in fact a channel of recruiting sexual partners for Jung. The paper obtained three audio recordings of dialogs of some female members, which say that Jung have had sex with ten female members by mutual consent, most of them college students from the modeling department.

In 2007, South Korea’s SBS reported how female members of CGM had been flown to and held against their will at Jung's hideout in Anshan in the Chinese province Liaoning on the border to Korea. One 28-year-old Korean who in April 2005 managed to escape, had alleged that she had been sexually violated multiple times by Jung.

Media Controversies
In 2010, media reported that the public had called for the re‐examination of the sexual harassment case against Jung Myung Seok, because of the concern that the truth was buried by the press's one-sided stoning.

Also in 2012, a reporter highlighted that the media-publicized accusations against Jung have 3 common features: 1) unconfirmed stories are published in print or online to fuel public opinions; 2) continuous accusations made against Jung without credible evidence; and 3) the presence of anti-JMS organizations inciting former members to make accusations, while at the same time, demanding money from CGM.

Lawsuit against SBS
After SBS reported about sexual harassment by Jung and his problematic activities after 'fleeing' to Hong Kong, the CGM came under scrutiny. Other media companies and their current affairs programs took the story broadcast by SBS as a fact, and the media regurgitated it, without making any enquiries with the CGM.

The CGM sued SBS for the news story broadcast in 1999. During the litigation, it was made known that footages aired by the SBS were distortions of original source footages. The footages shown by the SBS were edited, for the purpose of depicting Jung as a leader with sexual issues. The SBS broadcast a portion of Jung’s message in 1995, titled ‘A life of thanksgiving’. In the broadcasted portion, Jung's video where he said ‘give a tithe of lives, by evangelizing one person out of ten’ was distorted to make it not clearly understood. The SBS then put its own subtitles of the words ‘one woman’ instead of ‘one person’ to create an impression that Jung had sexual issues. Additionally, the SBS edited the video to make it seem like there were only women when there were also men at the service and other events. This created the impression of Jung as a religious sect leader who interacted solely with women.

In 2005, the Korean court found that SBS’s reporting was biased and distorted, because it relied primarily on the EXODUS leader ‘Mr Kim’ as its source. The main outcomes of the 2005 litigation were that the 1999 reports should not have been broadcasted on TV, and that CGM must be informed 48hrs prior, with at least 5% of the broadcast be allocated to CGM to make their statements. If the terms were violated, a 30 million won compensation will be made. However, the public did not know about this ruling, and Jung had already been branded a criminal by the public. Subsequently, conflicts took place among CGM members because of the media allegations and negative public perception.

On September 9, 2010, the dispute between the CGM and SBS over the 1999 news allegations concluded, with the Supreme court ruling in favor of the CGM and awarding the CGM 90 million in compensation for damages. Despite these outcomes, Exodus continued to spread negative reports about JMS. Exodus was made to close its website on June 29, 2005. However, Exodus simply changed its website to another domain and continued to operate the site.

Criminal Charges (2001 – 2007)
Jung was not officially charged until 2001.

In 2001, Jung was investigated by Taiwanese authorities on charges of sexual assault, but he left the country. At the end of the trial in 2002, a male witness who had testified that there was no sexual exploitation from 1993-4 was found guilty of perjury, and received a 1-year prison sentence. Jung, having been wanted by Interpol since 2002, was arrested in Hong Kong in July 2003 for overstaying his visa, but was released three days later on a HK$10,000,000 (US$1,3 million as of July 2003) bail. When Hong Kong authorities approved extradition to Korea, Jung 'fled' the extradition hearing.

In 2003, a South Korean woman and a Japanese woman filed a criminal suit against Jung for raping them.

In 2004, an Interpol Red Notice was issued on Jung.

On 7 April 2006, in South Korea, two women who returned from China filed lawsuits against Jung for sexual assault. Subsequently, the anti-JMS group EXODUS held a press conference on April 2006, in which four unidentified women (including the two women who filed the lawsuits) wearing bucket hats and surgical masks covering their faces, accused Jung of organised sex crimes against themselves and other women, who required medical treatment.

CGM’s Response to Charges
In response to all charges of sexual misconduct, the CGM members have stated that Jung denied all of those charges. Furthermore, Bae Jae-yong, CGM’s Publicity Director, emphasized that the allegations were "distorted rumor(s) that was created by the people who have slandered [Jung]" and that "all fundamental truth will be clarified by [Jung] at the prosecutor's office".

Controversy over the 2006 Press Conference
In 2010, news media reported that the April 2006 press conference was led by Mr Kim, the same leader of Exodus who was involved in the 1999 broadcast by SBS. The press conference involved four women claiming to be victims, bringing the media spotlight back on Jung. Mr Kim said that he was justly helping reporters who sought his opinions. However, an in-depth investigation into the case revealed that Mr Kim made demands of 2 billion won from CGM before the press conference, promising not to continue with the conference if this sum was paid. Other reporters decided not to trust Mr Kim after they heard about the payment demand.

Evidence contradicting sexual assault claims
Mr Kim had publicly announced in a press conference that the women had been wounded seriously because of the sexual assault that they would not walk. However, the court revealed evidence that the two alleged victims could walk with ease with no issues, through closed‐circuit television (CCTV) footage, going against Mr Kim's announcement. The defence and prosecution debated this case debated this case and featured various types of evidences in court. Chinese medical records showed that the females had no injuries or any signs of sexual assault.

Additionally, the National Institute of Scientific Investigation reported ‘negative response from a semen test’. A couple of days later, Ms Kim asked for another check up at the police hospital. She was then found with a cut of 0.5mm, which had differed from the last issue. The hospital said that this was a minor injury that may have been caused due to riding a bicycle. Because of the deviation between both diagnosis, the lawyer suggested that it may have been a self-inflicted injury. Moreover, Ms Kim had provided a picture of her abdomen, claiming that her vagina was forced with water, causing the swell. However, the lawyer argued that this was a fabricated photo.

Arrest, Extradition, and Conviction of Jung Myung Seok (2007-2008)
After the 18 April 2006 conference, the media reported about Jung being guilty of sexual assault in China and bringing international shame to Korea. Thereafter, in July 2006, the South Korean authorities put Jung on an international wanted list on rape charges, and after learning that Jung was in China, the South Korean government officially asked China in November 2006 to extradite him.

After about 8 years ‘on the run’, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security announced that Jung had been arrested in Beijing by Chinese police on May 1, 2007. Although the medical examinations on the ‘assault victims’ in the 2006 allegations gave a medical finding of no assault, the outcome of the Chinese investigation made way for Korea to extradite Jung. Accusations about Jung were made while he was abroad from Korea, thus his prosecution was pending. As a result, the Korea’s Department of Justice requested his extradition and China accepted the request. The ruled in September 2007 to extradite Jung, a decision upheld by the Supreme People's Court. He was extradited back to South Korea to stand charges on February 20, 2008.

Jung was also charged with fraud and embezzlement of church funds. In the criminal case heard by the, former members told the court that Jung was provided with female members of his sect as "gifts", and he would then have sex them on a religious pretext. Reportedly, Jung would be shown photographs of female members of his church, and once he chooses his "sexual gift", she would be conveyed to his place of stay outside Korea.

In January 2008, the Supreme Court of South Korea awarded a South Korean woman and a Japanese woman (US$52000 ) and  (US$10400) in damages for rape. The court said Jung forced the followers to have sex with him, saying that it is a religious behavior meant to save their souls. Providence followers started riots outside of newspapers that reported the court's verdict, broke into the Seoul office of the leading newspaper The Dong-a Ilbo trashing office furniture, and demanded the removal of articles critical of Jung.

In August 2008, Jung was convicted for raping female followers and sentenced by the Seoul Central District court to six years imprisonment.

On February 10, 2009, the added four years to the district court's sentence of six years, overturning one of the lower court's acquittals and finding Jung guilty on a total of four counts of rape. Jung appealed his 10 years imprisonment sentence to the Supreme Court of South Korea, but the sentence was upheld in April 2009. One of the allegedly sexually assaulted women subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against Jung. In its verdict in November 2009 ruled that "the plaintiff's right to bodily integrity was violated and she suffered psychological pain as a result of the sexual violence of defendant... The defendant is obligated to compensated plaintiff for her pain." and that Jung should pay in compensation.

Issues Concerning Bias and Evidence in the Trial
In response to the fraud and embezzlement charges, Bae Jae-yong, CGM’s publicity director stated that "Jung has never been directly involved with the [Church] finances as he manages the congregation, so his embezzlement charge is just a groundless rumor.” On the other hand, the Damage Control Group (DCG)'s representative (who made accusations against Jung) Mr Kim, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment and a three year probation because of fraud.

As for Jung’s conviction, it has been criticized by investigative reporters for ambiguous evidence and witnesses. The 10-year prison sentence was considered by some to be severe, and the court has been called on to reflect whether the presiding judge may have been clouded by public opinion and a lack of understanding about religious matters. It was reported that Christian groups had influenced the trial, having already deemed Jung to be a cult leader, and by public opinion already branded Jung a criminal prior to the trial. A CGM spokesperson highlighted "It was the Christian Council of Korea that petitioned the court for a guilty outcome in Jung's trial. Moreover, the major opposers of [CGM] are aligned with the Christian groups, giving rise to a conflict of interest."

Confession of False Testimony
Ms Jang was one of the five accusers who pressed charges against Jung. She said that she had been sexually assaulted and made these accusations in court. However, she later withdrew the lawsuit, admitting that what she said was false. Despite the judge warning her that she will be penalized for perjury, she replied that she was willing to be punished because she had lied. She also said that the other woman, Ms Kim, had also made false accusations on Jung because of pressures from Exodus. Due to this, Ms Jan was charged with perjury from Mr Kim from Exodus.

Extortions for money
Reports stated that given the testimonies in the courtroom revealed to a great degree that the informer was demanding settlement money, it was necessary for the court to examine and investigate whether or not the informer deliberately created the case while controlling the accusers and almost managing them behind the scene for the purpose of getting money.

A news report also stated that Mr Kim was one of the bigger contributors to Jung’s 10 years sentencing. The reporter surmised that if Mr Kim had been given a settlement of 2 billion won, Jung would possibly have not needed to go to court and receive the 10 years imprisonment. In February 2010, several media outlets publicized the video footages of anti-JMS leaders which exposed their demand of two billion won (1,800,000 USD) from CGM on November 17, 2005. However, the CGM did not give any money to Mr Kim because Jung said that this issue should not be resolved with money, but must be proven by facts. During Jung’s trial, one of the witnesses testified that after Jung was extradited to Korea, Kim reduced his demand to 140 million won instead because he needed that to pay the fine for fraud. Mr Kim had demanded this compensation for the harm to his father. Additionally, representatives from CGM should sign a guarantee that Mr Kim would be free from any legal actions. Only then would Mr Kim withdraw the allegations. He said that he had the power to make the decision to withdraw all allegations, even from others. He also said that he would apologize publicly to Jung and CGM and go on his own way without dealing with JMS again.

Another report stated that opposition to CGM started from one individual, Mr Kim. Mr Kim was arrested for blackmail, extortion and defamation on April 20, 2012 and was investigated by the Gwangju North Division Police.

Letter Exchanges
The media published Mr Kim’s letter of self-reflection dated November 15, 1999, and his apology letters to Jung dated March 17, 2005 and July 21, 2005. The letters were authenticated, handwritten by Mr Kim, stamped with his certified seal and contained his photograph. In the letter dated November 15, 1999, Mr Kim apologized for causing harm to and disgracing Jung through public scandal articles. In his 2005 letters, he apologized to Jung for his and Exodus's members misunderstanding and defaming of Jung.

Jung then replied on August 3, 2005, saying that he was glad to receive the letters, and that the fighting had caused great worry and pain to him. Jung ended off saying he thought deeply about Mr Kim's actions because Mr Kim had told him that he was not a bad person, but still demanded money.

Allegations of Sexual Exploitation
From 2011, anti-JMS organizations such as ‘Anti-JMS’ had demand for compensation and accused Jung with charges like sexual assault, terrorism, and other issues. Due to many people appearing in the media, more publicity was generated which caused Jung to be investigated for about 10 different cases. Despite the lawsuits and charges, no evidence was found. However, various sensationalistic materials were made public, encouraging significant online speculation. One major case took place in 2012, following the release of an alleged obscene internal video of CGM. Ex-Providence members used the video and alleged that some 500 to over 1,000 women members were still being groomed for future sexual exploitation by Jung. Known internally as the "Evergreens" (Hangul: 상록수; Hanja: 常緑樹; RR: sang-rok-su), these female members are reported to comprise a "reserve corps" for "sex bribes" (Hangul: 성상납; Hanja: 性上納; RR: seong sangnap), a term for sexual favors accorded to those exercising power. }} The "Evergreens" are educated and handled by 10 women in Providence's leadership. Jo Gyeong-suk, former head of the group's Seoul branch and herself an alleged victim, stated salvation through sexual union with Jung was part of its canon. According to Jo, "not a few of those women committed suicide. They become severely depressed and receive psychiatric treatment, suffer various illnesses and social phobias as a result of the stress, and are unable to marry."

NewsnJoy, a South Korean Christian news company, had reported about the "Evergreens" as a group reserved for sexual exploitation. After publication, NewsnJoy published corrections on that report. It clarified that the so-called ‘evergreens’ were people who chose to serve the mission of spreading the gospel and becoming leaders of faith without getting married, like nuns and priests. One such person is a 60 year old male. There were a great number of male "Evergreens", as well as female. Also, the term "Evergreens" is no longer used in Providence.

A CGM spokesperson stated that through Jung’s sermons, people can discern that CGM emphatically values the morality of purity, and that it was only the seceders who claimed that they were educated with the doctrine of receiving salvation through having sexual relations with Jung. Apart from allegations, there has been no evidence found in Jung’s sermons and teachings that claim that salvation can be redeemed through sexual union with him.

The CGM spokesperson also stated, ‘problems arise when people confuse spiritual love with physical love. President Jung taught people that the path to salvation is to become united with God and Jesus in love. He is a person who exemplifies that kind of a life. Spiritually, both men and women are on the side of being brides before the Lord. However, this is clearly taught as mental love.

The 2012 obscene video alleging to show internal activities by CGM members had cast negative impressions on CGM as a religious group. However, a news reporter investigated the video and identified the editing and piecing together of different footages to cause the misperception that all members were living lives that were inconsistent with their faith. This video was released by Mr Kim, the leader of an anti-JMS group called the Damage Control Group (DCG). Prior to the release, Mr Kim demanded 2 million won from the CGM and threatened to publicize the obscene video. The CGM explained that the video was a re-crafting of two different videos from 2007; a festival event where Jung was wearing formal attire, and a second low-resolution video which had nothing to do with Jung.

All the charges made against Jung in 2012 were dismissed in October 2012, due to a lack of evidence.

Allegations of Preferential Treatment in Prison
From 2012 to 2013, additional allegations were made against Jung that he enjoyed preferential treatment in prison, and even while serving sentence in prison, he was supplied with photograph profiles of female members for him to make selections on which women would be inducted as "Evergreens". In response, Minister Hyan Gyo-Ahn from the Ministry of Justice issued a statement in 2013 to clarify that these allegations were a misunderstanding, that there was no preferential treatment given to Jung and provided further explanatory material. Afterwards, news reports criticized the allegations as being irresponsible and groundless. These speculations spread to certain news outlets causing damage to the reputation and dignity of the CGM and its members.

Media Allegations in Australia
On April 9, 2014, the Australian government-funded television network Special Broadcasting Service reported on their activities in Australia, including statements by former members that they sought young attractive women. Providence refused numerous requests for a spokesperson to be interviewed for the program in Australia and Korea. The organization's Chief of External Affairs denied in writing to answer specific questions about the group's Australian activities; however, he did disclose that it had charitable status for tax purposes. In response to the SBS broadcast, CGM published an official video that denied the allegations, including statements by CGM Australian members who were featured in the SBS broadcast video without their consent. CGM stated that the broadcast was one-sided and had distorted the facts, damaging the reputation of CGM and its members.

In May 2016, Australian magazine Crikey revealed that an Australian Taxation Office (ATO) employee had been whitewashing the Wikipedia article on Providence. Operating from a work computer since August 2015, the lawyer had removed negative press coverage from the article and inserted glowing praise of Jung, while casting doubt on Jung's prison conviction. The woman, at first denying, admitted the editing. The ATO's Fraud Prevention and Internal Investigations Unit declined to take any action.

CGM stated that numerous CGM members in South Korea and other nations have been victimized, defamed and disadvantaged in society because media bias and distortion. CGM said that for more than 10 years, the families of members were torn apart. Members also lost their jobs, were kicked out of house, or were bullied at school. The children of CGM members were also approached unethically by reporters during a CGM ski camp who forcefully interviewed them by intimidation, causing psychological hurt.