South Korean cult leader JMS sentenced to 17 years in prison for sexually assaulting female followers

Jeong Myung-seok (79), head of the South Korean cult "Christian Gospel Missionary Society (JMS)," who was on trial for sexual assault and indecent assault on female members, was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
The South Korean Supreme Court held a hearing for the appeal of the defendant Jeong, who was indicted on charges of attempted rape and quasi-rape, at 10:10 a.m. on the 9th, and sentenced him to 17 years in prison.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court also upheld the sentence of wearing a location tracking device for 15 years, restricting him from working in child and youth organizations and organizations for people with disabilities for 10 years, and disclosing information for 10 years.
Between February 2018 and September 2021, defendant Chung raped a female believer of Hong Kong nationality, Mape, 23 times at a novitiate in Geumsan County, Chungnam Province, among other places.
He was arrested and indicted on charges of sexually assaulting and committing obscene acts against Ms. Lu (29), an Australian female follower, Ms. Amy (30), and a Korean female follower.
During the trial, Jeong's side denied the charges, saying, "The female followers were not brainwashed or in a state where they could not resist, and I continued to preach that I am not God but a human being."
The court argued that the defendant had called himself the Messiah and brainwashed his followers, then used his religious status to repeatedly commit crimes.
The court sentenced Jeong to 23 years in prison, saying, "He called himself the Messiah and had absolute power, and committed his crimes in situations where the victims were unable to properly exercise their right to sexual self-determination."
In response, the defendant Chung appealed, arguing that the sentence was unfair, and the second trial court partially accepted this argument.
"This should be considered as exceeding the reasonable scope of discretion in terms of the sentence," he said, explaining the reason for the reduction, saying, "I will impose a sentence of between four and 19 years in prison, which is within the recommended range based on the sentencing guidelines."
In particular, the second trial court recognized the admissibility of the crime scene recording file submitted by the victim, Maple, which was used as conclusive evidence of guilt in the first trial.
The second trial court said, "It is reasonable to assume that the scene at the time when the victim was with the defendant was recorded, but the cell phone that recorded it is no longer in existence, and the original file and the evidence submitted are not available."
The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling and dismissed all of the defendant's appeals.
Prior to this, Jeong was sentenced to one year in prison for sexually assaulting four female followers between 2001 and 2006.
He was sentenced to 0 years and served his sentence before being released in February 2018.