11-Year-Old Dies, and Protests Emerge Claiming 'Pastor Witch Hunt'… 'I Also Suffered' Horrific Torture

An 11-year-old boy dies at a church, raising questions about the cause of his death.

SBS's "Unanswered Questions" (hereafter "Unanswered"), broadcast on September 5, tracked the truth behind the case of a child's death at a church in Cheonan.

On the evening of August 5, an emergency call came in reporting that a child was unresponsive and exhausted from a high fever at a church in Cheonan. The child was immediately rushed to a hospital but was pronounced dead.

The deceased child was 11-year-old Mideum-i. However, marks of being bound by the wrists and ankles were found on his body, along with multiple bruises of varying ages and unknown causes, raising suspicions of abuse. Furthermore, Mideum-i, who was even wearing an adult diaper, died from multiple organ failure.

It was also revealed that two days before his death, Mideum-i went to a nearby restaurant covered in bruises to beg for food, prompting a report to the police suspecting abuse. Prior to that, the child had asked an adult at a convenience store to take him to a police substation. However, the child was repeatedly sent back to the church every time, ultimately meeting a tragic end.

The police arrested the church pastor, whom the child usually called mother, and the maternal grandmother who left the child at the church, on charges of child abuse resulting in death. However, the pastor's husband appealed for unfairness, claiming that "the pastor is being witch-hunted." Some church members also took the pastor's side, saying, "We had no choice because we were entrusted with a child with severe disabilities."


However, there were contrasting opinions. Another church member stated that Mideum-i's disability was not severe. They also revealed that the pastor had condemned Mideum-i before his death by claiming he was "possessed by an evil spirit." Church members, who were revealed to live communally, kept silent, stating that even though they were at the scene, they could not say anything.

The pastor's son-in-law said, "There are many things that feel unfair from the pastor's perspective," while the associate pastor remarked, "If the pastor made mistakes, she was wrong, but the past 11 years and 8 months must not be distorted," shifting the blame by criticizing the initial decision to take in Mideum-i's birth mother, who had nowhere else to go.

He claimed that Mideum-i received care from all church members. However, he argued that after Mideum-i's maternal grandmother secretly took the child home to meet his birth mother and revealed the secret of his birth, the child began exhibiting abnormal behavior and causing trouble. As a result, he mentioned that Mideum-i was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital for over a year.

He also claimed that the reason for tying up the child was not to prevent escape, but to stop him from running away from home. "He ran away 20 to 30 times because he wanted to steal and eat something. And the maternal grandmother repeatedly said she did not want to raise the child. The maternal grandmother probably tied him up. The pastor is not someone who would tie him up," he argued. However, the maternal grandmother's stance was different. While she initially claimed everything was her fault, as various pieces of evidence emerged, she revealed the truth: everything was the pastor's decision.

Mideum-i's maternal grandmother, who had struggled while raising multiple children alone, felt immense gratitude toward the pastor for taking in Mideum-i, moving her home near the church and dedicating herself to the church and the pastor. Working two jobs, she handed over 1 million won per month in child-rearing expenses to the pastor and handled all sorts of chores at the church.

However, the pastor's sermons were filled with criticism of Mideum-i, and she had church members corporally punish the child while forcing the child to claim that the grandmother had administered the punishment. It was suspected that the maternal grandmother's inability to speak out against the pastor's violence and her compliance in tying up the child under the pastor's orders were the result of prolonged gaslighting.


Soo-jung, who had attended the church run by Pastor Kwak since the 5th grade of elementary school, came to live at the church after her parents' divorce and suffered horrific incidents there that she never wants to remember again.

Soo-jung's mother, who was attending Pastor Kwak's theological seminary, was routinely assaulted by church members. When she resisted, the assaults extended to Soo-jung and her younger sibling. Like Mideum-i, they became targets of criticism and attacks during sermons. Church members tortured the mother in front of the Soo-jung sisters, striking her genitals, forcing her to consume urine, and pulling her tongue while beating her to prevent her from speaking out.

Soo-jung's mother revealed the traces of physical violence still remaining on her body. Soo-jung's mother had worked unpaid at a restaurant run by the pastor and handed over all her basic livelihood subsidies. Eventually unable to endure the constant surveillance by church members, the mother staged an escape, and with the help of relatives, the Soo-jung sisters were also able to escape.

However, there was a reason why they could not report the pastor. Soo-jung's aunt, who was a church member at the time, and her children were among the perpetrators who assaulted and tormented Soo-jung's family together. A former follower stated regarding Pastor Kwak's church that "there was no boundary between the perpetrator and the victim."

At the time, Pastor Kwak told some young people that they had received the mission of the 12 disciples, making them drop out of school to undergo her training. This training was not to become pastors, but to build a combat squad to capture ghosts. Many church members' lives were reportedly endangered by this violence.

The former follower stated that because they had mutually lynched one another, they could not report the pastor, adding that the pastor routinely abused children from broken homes whom she took in to raise. They also stated that it was undoubtedly Pastor Kwak who made the maternal grandmother beat Mideum-i.

It was suspected that Pastor Kwak went to great lengths to have more medication than necessary prescribed for Mideum-i and to secure a disability rating. Ultimately, by obtaining a disability rating and securing an exemption from compulsory education on grounds such as illness, Pastor Kwak isolated the child from school as well.


Experts noted that Mideum-i's behaviors were classic symptoms of child abuse syndrome, pointing out that even his obsession with food was a trace of abuse. They also stated that experiencing abuse inevitably leads to lower measured intelligence, meaning Mideum-i likely did not have severe intellectual issues.

A religious expert remarked, "I suspect that protecting children was used as a means to display the church's public credibility or religious nature," adding, "It seems she thought of Mideum-i like an accessory to receive respect and praise for herself."

A crime expert evaluated, "Mideum-i played the role of the black sheep and scapegoat within the church. Furthermore, the abuse inflicted on Mideum-i was used as an example to deter others," noting that "this clearly shows the church members were in a state of psychological subordination to the pastor."

Pastor Kwak has currently been forwarded to prosecutors on charges of child abuse resulting in death. Prosecutors reached this decision after determining there was no intent to commit murder.

However, a forensic medicine expert stated, "Ordinary people know that tying a child up in such a situation for 30 hours can cause death. Moreover, they tried to resolve the situation themselves before reporting it belatedly, which also raises suspicion of homicidal intent."

Meanwhile, a religious expert drew attention by raising their voice to emphasize that crimes occurring within churches "must be subject to severe aggravated punishment."

(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News) (Reported by Kim Hyo-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.