01x01 - JMS, God's Brides

[bunniefuu]

THE FOLLOWING EPISODE CONTAINS
DESCRIPTIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE

INVOLVING MINORS,
WHICH MAY BE DISTURBING FOR SOME VIEWERS

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW
HAS EXPERIENCED SEXUAL ABUSE

MAPLE, A SEXUAL VIOLENCE VICTIM, CONSENTED
TO REVEAL THE FOLLOWING CONTENT

IN HOPES THAT THE SAME SUFFERING
WOULD NOT REPEAT TO OTHER WOMEN

AS OF SEPTEMBER 2022, JEONG MYEONG-SEOK
IS DENYING THEIR SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP

[man speaks Korean]

[interpreter] Hug me.

[man speaks Korean]

[interpreter] Hug me tight.

- [woman sobs]
- [man] Say you love the Lord.

[woman] I love you, my Lord.

[man] You have such wide hips.

[soft slapping sounds]

You have wide hips, Soo-Jeong.

[woman whimpers softly]

- [man] Do you like that?
- [woman sobs]

[man] Did you come? Did you come?

[woman whimpers]

[man] Are you wet?

[woman murmurs]

[man] I came, like, fifty times.

- Fifty!
- [woman sighs]

[sniffles]

[exhales shakily]

MAPLE.
KOREAN NAME JEONG SOO-JEONG

Thank you.

[sniffles unsteadily]

[speaking Korean]

[interpreter] What he did
was disgusting and so perverted.

If he actually loved me,
he wouldn't have done that.

It was extremely disgusting.

I kept calling out to the Lord
as he was raping me.

[whimpers]

[sobs] I asked him.

I asked him why I was
going through something like that.

JEONG MYEONG-SEOK
PRESIDENT OF JMS

[Myeong-seok] What does "I ate that" mean?

Huh?

They say "Don't touch the p*ssy."

Huh. "Don't touch the d*ck."

"Why are you laying in the bed?"

Huh?

"Why are you touching the p*ssy?"

Eve picked the forbidden fruit,
and ate the forbidden fruit.

When a woman "picks up a man,"

what it really means
is that she had sex with him.

That's what they mean when
they say they "picked up a man."

[dramatic music]

[music covers dialogue]

BUT YOU MUST NOT EAT FROM THE TREE
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL

FOR WHEN YOU EAT FROM IT
YOU WILL CERTAINLY DIE

What if you can't see God?

If you can't, just look at me.

You don't need to search for God.
I am God.

You don't know who I am?
Well, I'm the Messiah.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

- You're so handsome!
- Come here, my Lord. [giggles]

Come here, my Lord! [laughs]

You must be tired, my Lord.

Come and sit in the tub with us.

Do you know that I love you
so much, honey?

[all squealing]

IN THE NAME OF GOD: A HOLY BETRAYAL

JMS, GOD'S BRIDES

[choral church music]

MARCH 5TH, 2022
SEOUL

[male producer] Okay. One, two, three.

MAPLE
KOREAN NAME: JEONG SOO-JEONG

Uh...

[interpreter] My name is Maple.

I'm from Hong Kong,
and I'm 29 years old in Korean age.

I'm a college student.

As shown in the identity card,
my name is Yip Huen. I'm 28.

My name is Maple Yip.

I'm from Hong Kong.

I'm 28 years old, and I'm still studying.

[producer] What will they say at JMS
when they watch this?

That I betrayed the Lord.

Since we came to this history receiving
the greatest love from the Trinity,

let us give greater love
than before to them.

Providence News, Jeong Soo-jeong.

I did some modeling
and street missionary work.

And some time later, I also served
as a probationer and a pastor.

I pray that the flames of the Holy Spirit
will be given to us this year.

[shouts] My Lord!

Even before I came to Korea,
I think that JMS knew.

Uh...

I think that they already knew
what was going on.

So, they asked me
if I was going to be in a documentary.

Then they said I shouldn't do it.

[producer] Why is JMS threatening you?

Because... they don't want me
to reveal the truth.

If I talk about my as*ault,

Jeong Myeong-seok might...

I think it's likely
that he goes back to prison

for raping me.

This was at the airport before I arrived.

Um...

I ran into a pastor from Hong Kong.

That's why I didn't have
the chance to get to the plane.

I was going to leave the day after.
But I ran into people from JMS Hong Kong.

JMS HONG KONG MEMBERS TRYING TO STOP HER
FROM LEAVING THE COUNTRY

MAPLE, DON'T GO ON THE DOCUMENTARY
YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT KOREANS ARE LIKE

THEY'RE EVIL, THEY'LL JUST USE YOU

DID YOU KNOW I'M BEING FOLLOWED?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, FOLLOWED?
I SWEAR, I DIDN'T TELL ANYBODY

FEBRUARY 25TH, 2022

MAPLE CAME BACK TO KOREA
TO TESTIFY ABOUT THE SEXUAL as*ault

[Maple] I finally made it to Korea.

I got to the airport
and I met with the producer.

[producer] Are you Maple? A pleasure.

- You're Maple, right?
- [Maple] Yes.

Let's go to our car. It's over there.

There.

[Maple] Later, I learned
that I had been followed.

A car followed us. From the airport.

And it parked outside the hotel.

[Maple breathing shakily]

I saw a car when I looked
out the window earlier.

It's been here since this morning.

I sent a picture of it to the producer
because I thought it was strange.

He said it was the same car that
had been following us from the airport.

[producer] Look.

There.

[raps on window]

Hey, sir. I know you followed us
from the airport. Who are you?

Sir?

You've been following us since yesterday.
Tell me who you are.

Hey, who are you?

[tense music]

[knocking at door]

[knocking persists]

[Maple, groggily] Who is it?

- [knocking]
- [Maple] Who is it?

I don't think I'll get
another opportunity like this.

I think that if I die, or if something...
bad happens to me...

Before I came to Korea, my mom...

met with people from JMS Hong Kong.

They told her that they had heard
about the documentary.

They said that if I do it...

I'm gonna face a really great... pressure.

[sniffles]

I'm totally terrified.

And my mom gave that person
a great answer.

"My daughter didn't do anything wrong."

JMS TAKES OVER UNIVERSITY TOWNS

[upbeat pop music]

[man] Back then none of the other churches
had so many college students.

But JMS was overflowing with students.

JEONG YI-SHIN, PASTOR
FORMER MEMBER OF JMS

The Music Festival! Let's go!

♪ But yo caught me wanting ♪

♪ And it all became so clear ♪

- ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
- ♪ Oh yeah... ♪

JMS was a very popular religion
among college students in the '90s.

SHIN h*-CHEOL, REPORTER
REPORTED ON JMS AT THE TIME, AT SISAIN

All around campus you'd see JMS clubs
and JMS evangelists everywhere.

90% OF JEONG MYEONG-SEOK'S FOLLOWERS
ARE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

[woman] So many smart people.

DEAN OF THE UNITED UNIVERSITIES

Students. The smartest ones.

Hongik University, KAIST,
Chonnam National University, and KNU.

All of the universities in the area
were part of it.

[Yi-shin] In JMS, studying engineering
at Hanyang University was nothing special.

When I was there, there were
so many people from top universities.

JMS had around 200, 250 churches

and almost 30,000 members.

Students didn't have money
to contribute to the offerings,

so during breaks, we were told
to raise money for the poor.

[bell ringing]

We sold peanuts in the streets and
other things like New Year's cards.

That's how we got money for the church.

Now I know it was like sl*ve labor.

But back then,

it was devoting myself to the Lord.

With the money that we raised,

I remember Mr. Jeong bought himself
a Mercedes-Benz,

and in the '80s, that wasn't common.

♪ Well, it's understandable that I'm so... ♪

SUWON GLORY CHURCH

You know how other churches
are usually extremely conservative?

But JMS...
they put a lot of emphasis on religion,

but they were also very open-minded.

♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, oh... ♪

You could meet up with people
and have a lot of fun.

That was probably a huge appeal
for people in their 20s.

♪ Ooh, oh, oh... ♪

JEONG MYEONG-SEOK

The '80s were a very
dark time in our history.

[Gyeong-cheon] In the '80s,

South Korea was under the control
of a military dictator.

Those who were against
the government were m*rder*d.

The country was in chaos.

No one knew what to do.

It was a very dark time.

None of the churches in Korea
wanted to accept me.

And whenever we got together
on a college campus

to talk about the state of the country,
a pastor would tell us to go away.

I think the student movements back then
can be summarized into two main branches.

One of them was integrated by "social
and science clubs"

that carried out protests,

and the other one was focused on faith.

Back then, the way he taught the Bible

felt like a practical solution
to all of the country's problems.

I was Communications Director,

Education Director, Vice-President...

KIM GYEONG-CHEON
MISSION DIRECTOR

...and also Seminary President,
until I left the organization...

KIM GYEONG-CHEON, PASTOR
EX-VICE-PRESIDENT OF JMS

...in December 2009.

[choral church music]

Salvation and Resurrection
were always a topic of conversation.

I had a hard time believing
those things from the Bible.

During my freshman year,

a classmate said someone
had read the Bible 2,000 times.

I asked him to take me to the guy,
and that's how I met Jeong Myeong-seok.

People told me
that the pastor prayed all the time,

and that he read the Bible 2,000 times.

When I met him he told me,
"I saw you coming in one of my dreams."

It felt like he was looking
right through me.

In JMS, the Bible is purely a metaphor.

When you look at it like that,
a whole world opens up.

There are so many things
that people misunderstand about the Bible.

"The Lord will descend in a cloud."
"God will descend in a cloud."

Do you really think
that Jesus appeared in a cloud?

No, he came from Mary's body.

And the people of Israel believed

that he was the one they were waiting for,
their Messiah.

The cloud is only a metaphor
made for people.

There is a saying in China
that goes as follows.

"The crowd gathers like clouds."

CLOUD - TO GATHER

Like the clouds. When a huge crowd
starts to follow a religious leader,

those people become the Biblical cloud.

[cheering and applause]

He liked to gather a crowd of 30,000
people and take pictures in front of them.

He was the Lord descending on a cloud.

[Maple] Do you know how
most churches talk about things

that are very unscientific?

JMS talked about things

much more scientifically.

It made sense.

He had a way of knowing what I wanted
to know and explaining it to me.

And he knew all that
with only an elementary school education.

SINCHON

[horns blaring]

UNIVERSITIES LOCATED IN SINCHON

[Gyeong-cheon] Sinchon is the first place

where he established a church
after he arrived in Seoul.

AROUND THE YEAR 1980
HE BECAME ACTIVE IN SINCHON

SINCHON AT THE TIME

He started out
in a small studio apartment in Sinchon.

REVISITING THE RENTAL ROOM
IN SINCHON, 1986

It was at that time
he evangelized Mr. Ahn.

JEONG MYEONG-SEOK

Mr. Ahn was a grad student at SNU.

Then he, Mr. Ahn, he evangelized

a grad student from Yonsei University.

Then that student
evangelized another student.

And the chain continued like that.

KIM GYEONG-CHEON, JEONG MYEONG-SEOK

You can see that JMS was focused

on students specifically from elite
universities, from the very beginning.

After establishing his first church,
he came to Samseong-gyo.

And that day, Jeong Myeong-seok
prayed for snow.

And it snowed that day.

So I told him, "Sir, I think
you're the reincarnation of Jesus Christ."

In other cults, you can't really
go through intense mystical experiences...

JEONG YI-SHIN, PASTOR
FORMER MEMBER OF JMS

...like you can in JMS.

Actually, that's why I decided
that I wanted to join them.

[cheering]

[Gyeong-cheon] Jeong Myeong-seok
gave a prophecy

for every single presidential election.

Just to give you an example,
for the presidential election of 1987,

there was this candidate called Roh.

1 ROH TAE-WOO, 2 KIM YOUNG-SAM
3 KIM DAE-JUNG, 4 KIM JONG-PIL

In that election,
he said that Roh was the next president.

[cheering and applause]

Number one, Roh Tae-woo.
Then Kim Young-sam.

And then Kim Dae-jung,
and last, Kim Jong-pil.

Then he told us that
they were all in order.

When their polling rates came out, they
were in the same order as their campaigns.

NATIONWIDE VOTES

ROH TAE-WOO 36.0%, KIM YOUNG-SAM 27.3%
KIM DAE-JUNG 26.4%, KIM JONG-PIL 7.9%

I don't know how
he predicted those things.

He would say things like,
"I know you're worried."

That happened pretty often.

One person thought
that his mother had a terminal disease,

and so, he asked Jeong Myeong-seok
to save her.

And guess his answer.

"She isn't gonna die."

And then she lived on, even when
doctors told them she was terminally ill.

I just I couldn't believe
I had been diagnosed with cancer.

A JMS FOLLOWER AT THE TIME

I cried nonstop, all night.

I didn't know what to do.

I just spent the entire
night crying all alone,

then I went to Mr. Jeong
who prayed for me.

HE SAID THERE WAS A PERSON WITH CANCER

WATCH YOUR HEALTH
FATIGUE IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU

R CAN CURE EVERYTHING WITH A TOUCH

JEONG MYEONG-SEOK

JMS FOLLOWER AT THE TIME
OB-GYN

When I ran another test with ultrasound,

the doctors found out
that everything looked completely normal.

I CAN FINALLY WALK NORMALLY

NOW I CAN WALK LIKE A NORMAL PERSON
WITHOUT MUCH LIMPING

MY BACK HAS COMPLETELY HEALED

THE HOSPITAL COULDN'T DO ANYTHING
ABOUT MY ARTHRITIS AND HERNIATED DISK

BUT HIS PRAYER HEALED ME

I've studied medicine.

I've studied it for about 40 years.

That's how I can heal people.

"Jeong Myeong-seok is the Messiah."

People thought that he had
an even higher status than Jesus

because he would fulfill
the last prophecy.

That's 400 years after.

So what's 1,446 plus 400?
It's the year of Luther's death.

So the Messiah will return in 1946.

Between 1945 and '46.

And why is that? Well, there's
the solar calendar and the lunar calendar.

That means that the Messiah
will be born between those years.

He calculated the year
of Jesus' Second Coming.

He claimed to be the subject
of the prophecy.

You know when I was born?
I was born in 1945.1945!

[Maple] You know how we call out
to the Lord when we pray?

In my head, I was praying
to Jeong Myeong-seok, not Jesus.

Sometimes, I would even say things like,
"In the name of Jeong Myeong-seok, amen."

What if you can't see God?

If you can't, just look at me.

You don't need to search for God.
I am God.

You don't know who I am?
Well, I'm the Messiah.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

I prayed in the name of Jeong Myeong-seok.

I thought I was being such a good son.

I was praying in the name
of the resurrected Jesus Christ.

When I did that, my mother asked me,
"What did you just say?"

People can do crazy things for the church.

Jesus said that you
are the salt of the Earth.

Why did he compare us to salt?

Why not rocks? Or soy sauce?

Or chili paste? Why didn't he say,
"You're the paste of the Earth"?

[laughter]

If he'd say, "You're chili peppers..."

"you're the chili peppers of the Earth,"

we'd say, "Yes.
Men do have chili peppers."

NOVEMBER 2000
RECORDING OF THE VICTIM'S COURT TESTIMONY

[man] Since you lived
with Jeong Myeong-seok for almost 20 years

as if you were his wife,

you directly observed his perverted
actions getting worse, is that correct?

[woman] Yes, that's right.

[man] Do you confirm that you lived as
the cult leader Jeong Myeong-seok's sl*ve

until you turned 40, without getting
married or having a proper social life,

until you got kicked out?

Is that correct?

[woman] I didn't get kicked out.

I just... I wasn't getting
treated like a human being.

[sobbing] It was so unfair!
Jeong Myeong-seok was like Satan.

[man] I see.

In the early 1990s,
a lot of women joined JMS.

He was surrounded by women.

All tall and pretty.

[Gyeong-cheon] Those women
were very tall and beautiful.

[crowd cheering and screaming]

SEXUAL VIOLENCE VICTIM KIM JI-EUN (ANONYM)
JOINED IN 1991, AGE 16 AT THE TIME

After I left JMS, I lived in silence.
But I recently gave birth to my children.

When I look at my kids,

I realize that I shouldn't
stay silent for any longer.

[producer] Did Jeong Myeong-seok look
for specific things in women?

[Ji-eun] He liked women
who were taller than 5'6".

That was my height at the time.

It was winter, during the break.
It was at the end of ninth grade.

WINTER, 1991

I was sitting and talking with a friend
at a park, when a man greeted us.

SEXUAL VIOLENCE VICTIM KIM JI-EUN (ANONYM)
IN NINTH GRADE AT THE TIME

He said he wanted to talk to us.

He said that he was from a church,
and that it was a great church.

He also said there was this great teacher
who knew a lot about the Lord.

He wanted to introduce us to him.

There was a church
on the second floor of a store building.

All the people there were very positive.
Caring.

They seemed to care a lot for each other.

I went to their event in Wolmyeongdong.

There were people from SNU,
Korea, and Yonsei Universities.

[crowd cheering]

All of the universities
sent their own cheerleaders

and their models to the parade.

They were all between 5'6 " and 5'8" tall.

When I saw them as a young girl,
they looked so pretty and cool.

That led them to tell me,
"The Bible has 30 outlines."

"Our leader Jeong Myeong-seok
learned this from the Lord himself."

"So you just study this version."

They all said, "He's the Messiah."

"Jeong Myeong-seok is
the Messiah of this era."

That was the main idea.

When I reached the intermediate level
I thought,

"Is Jeong Myeong-seok the Messiah?"

So I asked him that question.
"Are you the Messiah?"

"Is it true? Are you the Messiah?"

Jeong Myeong-seok traveled around
the country and held a variety of events.

He held soccer matches,

cheerleading events, different
social events, and art festivals as well.

People from other regions
wanted to see him too.

They all wanted to
listen to his teachings.

There was always people
following him around.

KIM DO-HYEONG
ANTI-JMS ACTIVIST

It wasn't easy to
meet with Jeong Myeong-seok.

He was always surrounded by either
very wealthy or very powerful people.

And even for the ordinary members,

it was very difficult
to meet him one-on-one.

[cheering and applause]

[singing]

They were all dying to meet
with the resurrected Jesus.

Everyone wanted to get some advice
and talk about their problems.

But it was almost impossible to meet him.

[man] I'm going to join the military
in a month. Please pray for me.

[Myeong-seok] That's a good time.

- [man] Thank you.
- [Myeong-seok] What about you?

[woman] Back then, getting to meet
Mr. Jeong always felt like a huge honor.

A very significant and rare event.

They would say that
he was coming to give a sermon.

But he didn't just give a sermon.

He would find some place to hang out
and stay there, for maybe a day or two.

[women calling out]

[woman] Please, here, over here!

WE LOVE YOU, MR. JEONG

It was June of 1993.

I was in my second year of high school.

I was a minor.

An older girl told me he was visiting,

and that she would request
a one-on-one meeting for me with him.

She said that way,
I could receive his blessings.

ACCOUNT FROM KIM
LEFT JMS IN 1999

- When pretty girls joined...
- [man] Yeah?

...he held one-on-one meetings with them
after the religious teachings were done.

- [man] Yeah?
- [Kim] Like an ordinary church pastor.

[man] Right.

[Kim] That's when he did
all those horrible things.

[Ji-eun] I have to say I was excited,
but nervous too.

Meeting somebody like him

was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me,

and it made me feel like
I was getting closer to God.

I told the older girls,

"Maybe I should try out for Miss Korea."

"But trying out for
Miss Korea is dangerous."

And all they told me things like,

"The men will never ever leave you alone,
you should ask Mr. Jeong."

[poignant music]

I walked into the hotel room
that he was staying in.

But there was another woman there.

The woman left when he told her to leave.

Then I was left all alone
in the room with Jeong Myeong-seok.

I told him that I wanted
to try out for Miss Korea,

but that the other girls said
that I shouldn't,

and that I should ask for
his permission.

And then, I asked him if I could do it.

He replied that he wanted to see
if I'd be able to handle it.

And then he told me to strip.

I thought that maybe the Lord would...
know if I should try out or not.

So I agreed and took off my pants.

Then Jeong Myeong-seok...
grabbed me out of the blue.

I remember he said something like,

"If you try out, other men will f*ck you."

From that point on, I just lay
there silently and without moving.

Jeong Myeong-seok climbed on top of me,

then took out his p*nis

and rubbed it against my genitals.

And after that sexual act,

he proceeded to touch
my genitals with his hands.

He was saying things like,

"Call me baby. Call me honey."

"Call me honey from now on.
You need to come again."

Then he said that I could never...
tell my parents or people at the church.

It should be our secret.

I just walked over to my pants,
put them on and left.

[producer] Were you an adult at the time?

[Ji-eun] I was a minor.

They told me he was a pure man
who hadn't even gotten married.

They said he had never...
held hands with a woman.

He definitely ruined my life,
but back then, I didn't know that.

When I think about it... [sniffles]

They were probably very hopeful,
because they thought they'd see the Lord.

Just imagine having
a one-on-one meeting with the Lord.

Most of them have never thought...

those terrible things would happen.

NOVEMBER 2000
RECORDING OF THE VICTIM'S COURT TESTIMONY

[man] Is it your testimony
that president Jeong Myeong-seok

sexually assaulted you
after he invited you for a meeting?

[woman] Yes, that's what happened.

His excuses were meetings
or health check-ups.

AFFIDAVIT

H'S STATEMENT IN 2000
FOR A SEXUAL ABUSE CASE

THE MEETING WITH MR. JEONG APPROACHED

HE PUT HIS HAND IN MY SHIRT
AND TOUCHED MY BREASTS

HE UNZIPPED MY PANTS
AND PUT HIS HAND IN MY UNDERWEAR

K'S STATEMENT
SUBMITTED IN 1999

AT A HOTEL NEAR THE CHURCH

A MEETING WITH FOUR THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS
IN HIGH SCHOOL

THE PRESIDENT WAS RUTHLESSLY TOUCHING
MY BREASTS WITHOUT HESITATION

AFFIDAVIT FROM WITNESS J

I HAD A MEETING WITH HIM IN HIS ROOM

HE PUT HIS HAND IN MY vag*na,
SAYING THAT HE WOULD DO A HEALTH CHECK-UP

I WAS FORCED TO HAVE INTERCOURSE WITH HIM

SEXUAL VIOLENCE VICTIM LEE YUN-JU (ANONYM)
JOINED IN 1992, AGE 19 AT THE TIME

I remember... a woman suddenly said
hello to me and approached me.

Then she asked me how tall I was, and
I thought it was a very random question,

but I didn't mind,

So I told her I was a little under 5'6".

I was being honest.
I didn't say that I was 5'6" or anything.

Then she said,
"So you're basically 5'6" tall."

[crowd cheering]

I remember that it was summer.

I'm almost sure it was in August,
so they were holding retreats.

Jeong Myeong-seok was playing volleyball,

and... I was cheering
for him from the sidelines.

But he kept looking over at me
while I was cheering.

And I was thinking,
"Why does he keep looking at me?"

After the volleyball match was over,

we put up our tents
and went to bed to got some rest.

Somebody woke me up because
Mr. Jeong was looking for me.

I got dressed in a hurry
and looked for him.

I saw all these women standing in a line.

She said I could go in first

because I was the new one.

So I thought that was
the way it usually worked.

I didn't suspect anything.

I went in there because I wanted
to get his acceptance and blessing.

I honestly found the situation
a bit strange.

I was uncomfortable.
I was a little scared of him.

Jeong Myeong-seok has manipulated people's
bones back into place a bunch of times.

He was really famous for that.

He started touching my thighs
and told me to come closer.

He started pulling on my leg.

He said that cheerleaders
shouldn't be bow-legged

and that they should have straight legs.

He told me that he believed
I was the Lord's masterpiece,

and that he would be so very proud of me.

Then he told me to spin around for him.

I figured I should do it
because those were... God's wishes,

so I walked away from him and walked back.

And then he smiled at me
and said that I looked beautiful.

I smoothed out my clothes,
then sat back down.

When I sat next to him,

he went ahead
and put his hand inside my bra,

then he closed his eyes and said
something like the Lord had ordered him

to look for lumps in my breasts.

[sighs]

One of the girls said that
Mr. Jeong performed health check-ups.

She also mentioned that he had cured
diseases, so I was grateful.

That's when he pushed me.

And after he pushed me, he told me
that I should lie down on the bed.

As he laid me down, he said that
he had to check if my uterus was healthy.

He touched my genitals,

and said, "The Lord is telling me to
examine you, as you can't have cysts."

He said, "Women shouldn't
have cysts in the uterus."

Then he licked his fingers

and he put them in my vag*na.

He said, "The Lord is examining you."

He kept moving his fingers
incessantly inside of my body.

I told him that it was hurting me.

And then Jeong Myeong-seok
simply said to me,

"It always hurts the first time."

It hurt so much, so I looked,
and I saw that...

he... had already forced his p*nis inside.

Then he bit my breasts.

He told me that I'd have to keep
having intercourse with God.

I remember him saying,
"You're God's bride now."

He said that I couldn't think of men,
that I couldn't even look at them.

He also told me that I'd go straight
to hell if I betrayed the Lord.

Jeong Myeong-seok said that we'd
end up divorced if we got married,

and that we'd give birth
to deformed babies.

That's how he scared us.

C'S PETITION
WITNESS STATEMENT IN 2001

HE MADE ME CALL HIM "DEAR,"
"HONEY," AND "OPPA"

HE ALSO TOLD ME THAT I'D GO TO HELL
IF I DATED ANOTHER MAN

HAND-WRITTEN COMPLAINT FROM K

I WAS FORCED TO HAVE INTERCOURSE WITH HIM

JEONG ALWAYS THREATENED BY SAYING
THAT WOMEN WHO HAD SLEPT WITH HIM

WOULD FALL TO THE SCARIEST PART OF HELL
IF THEY BETRAYED HIM

N'S STATEMENT
SUBMITTED IN 2001

JEONG TOLD ME,
"WATCH OUT FOR OTHER MEN. YOU'RE MINE."

"YOUR vag*na WILL RIP
IF YOU MARRY SOMEBODY."

When I came out, I ran into a girl
who was overseeing things outside.

THE APPEARANCE OF REPORTERS

The girl who called me
was a link in the chain

that brought women to Jeong Myeong-seok.

She looked like she knew
exactly what had happened.

Then she congratulated me and said,

"Remember,
we must only love the Lord now."

"Remember, we have to love him
now that we're his brides."

The girl outside was like, "How was it?"

I was so confused.

So I asked if he had done the same to her.

She said, "You won't get it at first,
but you'll understand everything in time."

SEXUAL VIOLENCE VICTIM KIM JI-EUN (ANONYM)
JOINED IN 1991, AGE 16 AT THE TIME

SEXUAL VIOLENCE VICTIM
FORMER INFORMANT AT JMS

I used to tell them that he might...

find some serious disease
in them through his examinations,

and that they shouldn't be afraid
of anything.

I used to say that a lot.

I used to ask, "What would you do
if he touches you here or does this?"

I acted really playful and natural
so everything would remain in the dark.

[Maple] I told her that having sex
with him was totally confusing.

She said that she felt the same way...

SEXUAL VIOLENCE VICTIM MAPLE

...when that happened to her the first time.

She understood that it had been confusing
when she was a newbie,

but she realized it was the Lord's love.

KIM DO-HYEONG
ANTI-JMS ACTIVIST

They say the informant's role

is to tell the president
about all that happens in the church.

But they don't tell you
why those "informants"

have to be women in their early 20s.

Can't men do the same thing?

In plain language, the informants are

his mistresses and sex partners.

- You're so handsome!
- Come here, my Lord. [giggles]

You must be tired, my Lord.

Come and sit in the tub with us.

Do you know that I love you
so much, honey?

[all] I love you! Love you so much!

I know most of those informants.
Most of them are probably pastors by now.

Those who slept with Jeong Myeong-seok
were usually evangelists,

probationers or informants.

They all received some kind of title.

One of their biggest goals
in missionary work

is to bring Jeong Myeong-seok
more pretty women.

It's an endless supply of women.

I changed a bit...

during my time there.

I started adjusting my behavior
to match Jeong Myeong-seok's,

and tried to do more things
that he liked, little by little.

I just did whatever he told me to do.

[Maple] When they find a girl
that is either beautiful or tall,

they try really hard to convert her.

They told us once that we need to consider

the girls' looks as well,

since we were basically
looking for his brides.

Jeong Myeong-seok may not want you.

Jeong Myeong-seok is always on the hunt.

He likes younger women.

You may not have intercourse,

but if you bring him young women,
then you'll get more rewards.

So you can become a minister

and get some money that you can use
to take care of the other girls.

As they continue to be active members,

they start recruiting other women
and bringing them to Jeong Myeong-seok.

That's how the victims
turn into the perpetrators.

THE SECRET OF THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT

BUT YOU MUST NOT EAT FROM THE TREE
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL

[Gyeong-cheon] "She took some and ate it."

WHEN YOU EAT IT YOU WILL DIE

Eve ate the forbidden fruit.

[Gyeong-cheon] That's what Genesis says,
but he made it a metaphor.

He interprets the forbidden fruit
as female genitals.

So "picking the fruit" here
means to have sex.

Since he invented this metaphor,

he's the savior
who'll spare mankind from corruption,

basically by not allowing people
to have sex.

Through this act, he'll become
the savior of all humankind.

So, why does he go around
having sex with all these women?

He says he can do it because
he actually is the "Perfect Adam."

So he is perfect,
and sex is an act of salvation.

[woman] In order to meet God
through Jeong Myeong-seok,

you have to be like a bride and groom
and have sex.

He always said that
I must obey God's orders.

He told me to save Eve
from the sexual corruption.

In other words,
having sex with Jeong Myeong-seok

meant God was expressing his love,

and he was doing that
through Jeong Myeong-seok's body.

That was his reasoning.
He would say, "This isn't a sexual crime."

"You're receiving the love of God."

[dramatic music]

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[in Korean]
♪ The wonderful nation of Providence ♪

[Gyeong-cheon] Dalbak-gol,
Seokmak-ri, Jinsan-myeon,

Geumsan-g*n, Chungcheongnam-do.

They decided to call it Dalbak-gol
because the moon,

but later they changed
the name to Wolmyeongdong.

The place was in the mountains,

but his followers thought it was
the birthplace of the resurrected Jesus.

So it was pretty much
the Jerusalem of the East.

Then they designated Jeong Myeong-seok's
birthplace as a holy place.

That's where hundreds
of women lived together.

At Wolmyeongdong,
there were a couple of housing compounds.

This is where the wives lived.

I remember the buildings
were divided into two floors,

and women were crammed in there.

They lived in very rough conditions.

Whenever they planted trees,
or... worked on stones,

we... had to stand next to them and watch.

Those were supposed to be... the Lord's
accomplishments and also his work.

He said we had to witness it,

and that way, we would all be enlightened.

So we stood there and just watched.

During the day he, um...

let people watch him
playing things like soccer or volleyball.

That's how he spent the day sometimes.

[cheering]

[man] Let's go!

[women screaming and cheering]

[man] Another goal!

[woman] All right, he can do it!
Oh my God, he's fast.

Yes, he's really fast,
he's doing it and... [gasps]

sh**t! Goal!

Awesome!

He would score 60 goals in a soccer game.

They said he had scored 1,200 goals.

Well, he could score so many goals

because they played soccer
for five to six hours.

And also because the other players
didn't really try to score.

Everyone let Jeong Myeong-seok
score all the goals.

And the others players,
the opponents, faked it.

They pretended to block him.

Even the goalkeeper
would jump the opposite way.

From afar, he's trying to block the ball,

but he falls the opposite way.

[Yun-ju] We used to cheerlead for him
from the sidelines.

We gave him high-fives, brought him water,
and wiped off his sweat.

That's what we were supposed to do.

And then, when the match
was about to finish,

one of the girls
would assess the situation,

and she'd tell us to
go and wait in the bathroom.

We were supposed to... receive Jeong
Myeong-seok's blessings after the shower.

So when he went inside,
we would wash him.

And then... he would have sex with us.

It happened in the mornings.

That's when he usually had sex with us.

Yeah.

Even when he was sleeping,
he kept waking up

and having sex.

JEONG MYEONG-SEOK'S ROOM

Around two or three a.m.,

one of the women in the room would start
performing oral sex for Jeong Myeong-seok

and then start having sex.

Sometimes Jeong Myeong-seok
would wake up first,

and he would just pull
the women on top of him.

J'S PETITION
SUBMITTED IN 2000

I WENT IN WITH THREE OR FOUR GIRLS
MY AGE

ONE BY ONE,
WE GOT ABUSED BY THE PETITIONEE

S'S EXAMINATION RECORD
SUSPECT-VICTIM CONFRONTATION IN 2001

FIVE TO SIX OF US WENT INTO HIS ROOM

THE LAMP WAS ON

HE HAD SEX WITH US,
STARTING WITH THE GIRL AT THE VERY END

HWANG'S STATEMENT
SEXUAL as*ault AND KIDNAPPING VICTIM, 1999

I HEARD THERE WERE THREE TO FOUR GIRLS
AND SOMETIMES MORE THAN 30

I ONCE HAD SEX WITH THE PRESIDENT
WHILE THREE PEOPLE WATCHED

NOVEMBER 2000
RECORDING OF THE VICTIM'S COURT TESTIMONY

[woman] There were ten to 15 girls
sometimes.

He made all of us strip
once we went inside.

And then... there was this one time

Jeong Myeong-seok's testicles got so red
and swollen that he got a fever.

He probably had sex
with 50 women in a day.

More or less.

I don't think of it as ordinary sex.

Sometimes he'd just push his p*nis in,
move it a little, then pull out.

Q: HOW LONG DID THE SEX LAST?

It was just about the penetration.

He wanted to stake his claim
on the women he owned.

A: HE HAS INTERCOURSE
WITH EACH WOMAN FOR A MINUTE

Once, I asked Jeong Myeong-seok...

"What would happen if I got pregnant

while making love with the Lord?"

I wondered.

And he asked,
"Do you want to get pregnant?"

"If you get pregnant we wouldn't have sex,
and you'd need a surgery."

[gasps]

In that moment, I thought to myself,

"An ab*rtion if I get pregnant
with the Messiah's baby?"

It was shocking to me.

Sex was his priority.
I kept getting a bloody discharge,

so I went to the hospital
as soon as I could.

They asked for a biopsy.

The doctor said it might be cancer.

As a result of that situation,

I discovered that I had
early stage uterine cancer.

They had to remove my uterus,

otherwise the cancer might spread.

Jeong Myeong-seok
had prayed over my genitals

and blessed them every single day.

But I still had cancer.

[sighs]

There were so many disgusting things.

If we get into details,
it'll get really disgusting.

Once, there was a news broadcast
about a huge fire.

It showed a really heartbreaking site
of a horrible tragedy that occurred there.

[sirens blaring]

While we were watching that,
suddenly, he started mumbling something.

He did that and then started
banging on the TV, saying,

"I can't believe this,
what a waste of c**ts."

I was absolutely shocked.

He poked the girl next to him and said,
"You should have converted them."

"What a waste.
You should have brought them to me."

He said all these disgusting,
horrible things,

and I was watching that happen
in complete disbelief.

He regretted not having
used them before they died.

NOVEMBER 2000
RECORDING OF THE VICTIM'S COURT TESTIMONY

[man] I heard many women still
can't sue him even though they want to.

Help me understand the reason.
Why is that?

[woman] Every day,
he threatens to m*rder my mother.

[man] Every single day?

[woman] He was seen
near the house yesterday.

ALL INTERVIEWS IN THIS DOCUMENTARY
USE REAL TESTIMONIES

TO PROTECT THE SUBJECTS' IDENTITY,
SOME INTERVIEWS HAVE BEEN REENACTED