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Jung Myung Seok (Hangul: 정명석, RR: Jeong Myeong Seok; 16 March 1945 – ) is a South Korean painter, poet, author and Vietnam War veteran. He designed and constructed the Wolmyeongdong Natural Temple and is the President of the Christian Gospel Mission (Providence Church).

Jung founded Providence Church in 1978. Since 1999, Jung and his church has received significant public attention in South Korea and worldwide. He faced sexual allegations, for which he was convicted to a ten-year sentence in South Korea from 2009-2018. Furthermore, he has been criticized for claiming to be the Messiah and spreading unorthodox Christian beliefs, such as his interpretation of the Original Sin.

Both positive and negative media coverage surround Jung and his church. Providence Church activities and church membership has grown in English speaking nations, during the time Jung was in prison. Some news articles state that Providence Church is a cult with a dangerous leader and harmful doctrines. Other news articles assert that his sentence was due to a failed justice system, as the evidence used against him was insufficient, perjured, and doctored.

In 2014 -2018, Korean new agencies as well as cult analyst, Peter Daley, were ordered by the South Korean court to issue formal apologies to Jung Myung Seok for libel and defamation. In 2010, The Korean Justice System eventually ruled that the initial SBS broadcast in 1999 that led to the investigation of Jung Myung Seok was biased and should never have been aired. It was found that the evidence used against Jung Myung Seok was edited footage. Mr. Kim, who spurred the initial and subsequent medial allegations prior to Jung's conviction was found to extort money from Jung and later wrote an apology letter for his actions.

Childhood, Education and Poverty
Jung Myung Seok was born on 16 March 1945 (Lunar Calendar: 3 February 1945) in South Korea, during the same year Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation. His birthplace is Wolmyeongdong, a remote mountain village located in the Seokmak-ri village of Jinsan, from the Kumsan Country in Chungcheong Province.

He is the third son in a family of six boys and one girl. There was a severe food shortage when he was young. It was common for their family to have just one bowl of watery porridge as their sole meal of the day. He reportedly would have to hike up the mountains during the day to look for kudzu vines to eat.

Jung Myung Seok and his family lived in poverty in Wolmyeongdong for all of his early life. He worked as a farmer to assist his family and attended Jinsan Elementary School.

Religious Life
Jung Myung Seok started believing in God at the young age of six. He was born in a village where the Christian gospel had not been preached. He first read about Jesus after a Christian missionary distributed free Bibles to each household in Seongmak-ri. That was when he began reading the Bible. He was baptized by William Alderman Linton, an American Presbyterian missionary, at the age of 14. After that, he helped his parents farm during the day, and at night, he devoted his time to praying in the mountains or preaching the gospel.

Military Service (1966-1969)
During the Vietnam War, Jung Myung Seok was enlisted to the Republic of Korea's 9th Division (the White Horse Division), 28th Regiment, 1st Battalion, 3rd Company, 1st Platoon, 2nd Squad on 22 Feb 1966. He served two tours of duty and became a Corporal. After his first tour, Jung was awarded the Citation of Distinguished Service in War on 13 Oct 1967 by General Chae Myung-shin.

Operation Hong Kil Dong
During the first tour, Corporal Jung participated in many operations. In particular, he participated in the Operation Hong Kil Dong.

A few days before the operation, the South Korean 3rd Company fought with Viet Cong soldiers. The next day, Corporal Jung and his comrade Corporal Yoo Gun Tae were sent to Chai Mountain to check for any surviving Viet Cong soldiers.

He found some but refused to kill them. Instead, he captured one and brought him alive as a prisoner to his army base. His platoon commander wanted to kill the prisoner, but Jung convinced his commander to keep him alive to obtain information. The prison revealed the location of the North Vietnamese 95th Regiment's headquarters. This information helped the 1st Platoon defeat the Vietnamese 95th Regiment.

Post-Vietnam War
Jung later spoke of his experience of serving in Vietnam. He realized the horror of death and the meaninglessness of life. He avoided killing any person during his military service. He testified that it was because of God's protection that he was able to survive the war. His time in Vietnam gave him greater determination to live for God and preach the Word.

After returning from the Vietnam War, Jung Myung Seok used the money he got for serving in the Vietnam War to rebuild Sukmark Church on 20 Jun 1971.

From 1975-1978, Jung preached the gospel and created sermons and charts from the notes he took while studying the Bible. He then went to Seoul to begin his ministry work.

Founding of Providence Church and the Christian Gospel Mission (1978-)
In June 1978, Jung began his ministry work in Seoul, which later became the Christian Gospel Mission (CGM). He founded Ae-chun Church (애천교회) in 1980, which was affiliated with the Methodist Church.

In 1982, Jung established the Korean College Student MS Ministry and registered the Presbyterian Methodist Order a year later in 1983. In 1986, Jung became director of the organization. Jung then enrolled in and graduated from Wesley Theology Seminary and got his license as a Pastor.

After a series of changes, the organization became the Christian Gospel Mission with Jung as the current President.

Wolmyeongdong Natural Temple (1989-)
Jung Myung Seok designed and built the Wolmyeongdong Natural Temple starting from 1989. Originally, it was a remote mountainous village. Jung reportedly received a revelation from the Holy Trinity to develop his hometown into a place of fellowship, worship, and prayer.

Artwork
Jung Myung Seok produced calligraphy and paintings under his pen name “Cheon Bo” in South Korea as well as in England, France, Germany and Argentina. His painting Destiny has received international recognition. With his Destiny painting, he became one of the 15 finalists among 350 participants at Arteclasica 2011.

Jung draws inspiration for his artwork from within God's truth. Many of his artworks are of things found in nature, like mountain, oceans, the sun, birds, trees, and rocks. One of his themes is overcoming challenges.

Poetry and Literature
Jung Myung Seok debuted his poetry in the monthly magazine, "Literary Trends (문예사조) in 1995. He then published five volumes of a series titled Spiritual Poetry (영감의 시). The third and forth volumes titled Women of Poetry (시의 여인) and Speaking through Poetry (시로 말한다) became first and second best sellers at Kyobo Book Centre in 2013.

Ten of his poems were also published in The Encyclopedia of Korean Poetry (2011), which has 3,500 poems and represents over 100 years of Korean poetry since 1908. The encyclopedia commentary states that Jung’s writing of nature shows that he perceives nature from the perspective of the Creator and His laws of creation. Commentators have also observed that Jung uses poetry to talk about the love between Heaven and Earth. Jung has since written more than 3000 poems.

Jung Myung Seok has published over 25 books. He wrote a 3-book series “The Message of Life," which contains his sermons from 1997-1999. He wrote another 3-book series “Words of Salvation” about heaven, hell, and salvation, which took him six years to complete. He also wrote a 9-book proverb collection “Heaven’s Words, My Words (하늘말 내말),” a 4-book proverbs and drawings collection “Heaven’s Words, My Words (Proverbs with drawings),” and a 2-book series “Lamplight of the Sun.”

Media Allegations
In 1999, a news story based on an unverified report by Mr. Kim, an ex-CGM member, was aired by SBS Korean News. This broadcast was aired without seeking input from CGM and without proper verification. Jung Myung Seok was overseas doing missionary work at this time. The news story accused Jung Myung Seok of various sexual scandals. Following this broadcast, several other news media duplicated this report without verification, causing further harm to Jung Myung Seok’s reputation.

CGM sued SBS Korean News for slander. However, the Korean Court did not rule against SBS Korean News until September 2010. The footages aired by SBS in 1999 turned out to be edited clips of Jung Myung Seok’s original sermon video.

It was not until 2001 that formal charges based on the 1999 sexual allegations were pressed against Jung Myung Seok, when he was missionizing overseas. However, the sexual assault charges were dismissed by the prosecutors involved, and Jung Myung Seok was able to travel overseas lawfully. He returned to Korea several times during his travels and was investigated by the prosecutors about his travels. News media stated that he was fleeing overseas, which was false.

In April of 2006, Mr. Kim reported to SBS Korean News about new sexual allegations. This led to another unverified broadcast before a police investigation was launched, when Jung Myung Seok was still in China. South Korea then put Jung Myung Seok on the international wanted list and asked China to extradite him.

In April 2006, Ms Jang and Ms Kim, the alleged victims, undertook a medical examination in a hospital immediately following their report of sexual interrogation, while under Chinese police protection. The medical examination resulted in a finding of no signs of sexual assault. The Korean Police Hospital did a repeat check on Ms Jang and Ms Kim and also found no traces of sexual assault. Hence, there was no objective evidence for the case against Jung Myung Seok. However, South Korea’s extradition request for Jung Myung Sek remained.

In 2007, Jung Myung Seok was arrested by China based on the extradition request. Chinese authorities placed him in prison for 10 months for further investigation, without a trial.

Chinese government releases Jung Myung Seok
In 2008, the Chinese Government did not find Jung Myung Seok guilty of breaking local laws, and released him in February to be extradited back to South Korea to stand charges. He was subsequently tried for five charges by five women.

One of those women making the charge, Ms Jang (from the April 2006 allegations), admitted to committing perjury and dropped her charge. Ms. Jang also pointed out that the other women were also committing perjury.

Nevertheless, the judges, despite the recanted testimonies and lack of physical evidence, sentenced Jung Myung Seok to 6 years imprisonment in August 2008. He was judged as guilty for three out of five charges made against him, based on verbal testimonies alone. At the time of the trial, there was significant negative public image and media exposure of Jung Myung Seok.

Jung Myung Seok denied being guilty of the three charges and appealed to the high court. However, as punishment for not pleading guilty and appearing unrepentant, the court upheld the sentence, and added back Ms Kim’s charge (making it four out of five charges), increasing the sentence to 10 years.

Several unrelated Korean news agencies published articles discussing the problems surrounding the trial, that led to the outcome that they felt was biased.

It was later found that Mr. Kim was attempting to extort money from Jung Myung Seok.

Apologies and Retractions
Since 1999, Jung Myung Seok and his church received significant negative media attention.

In September 2010, the Korean Court eventually ruled that the original SBS Korean News broadcast in 1999 relied entirely on Mr. Kim’s one-sided report and should not have been aired on television. The footages aired by SBS in 1999 turned out to be edited clips of Jung Myung Seok’s original sermon video. Unfortunately, this did not reverse Jung Myung Seok’s sentence or help change the already negative public opinion of the church.

In addition, many news agencies formally apologized and retracted their articles or broadcasts on the basis of defamation from 2014-2017.

In July 2018, Peter Daley who strongly opposed Jung Myung Seok and Providence, issued an official apology for publishing videos and articles that seriously hurt the reputation of Jung Myung Seok.

Imprisonment
Jung Myung Seok was sentenced to prison in 2009. In prison, Jung Myung Seok continued to write sermons and reply to letters from church members, according to the rules of prison. He continued to pray for the people, and the world, including his enemies.

Testimonies from Providence members who attended church during his imprisonment also state that he continued to deliver daily sermon messages and consistently compose songs, write books, produce artwork, and write poetry about God.

Current Life
Since being released from prison in February 2018, Jung Myung Seok has continued to lead Providence Church. Providence members report that he lives a devout life of faith, delivering sermons, praying, spending his time managing Wolmyeongdong, managing his church, and organizing various sports and arts activities centered on glorifying the Holy Trinity.