Prosecutors Seek 27-Year Prison Sentence for JMS Leader Jeong Myeong-seok on Sexual Assault Charges

Prosecutors have demanded a heavy prison sentence for Jeong Myeong-seok, the leader of the Christian Gospel Mission (commonly known as JMS), who is on trial for sexually assaulting female followers.

During the sentencing hearing held today (the 7th) by the 11th Criminal Division of the Daejeon District Court, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Jeong to 27 years in prison.

In addition, prosecutors requested a 10-year employment restriction at child, youth, and disabled welfare institutions, 20 years of wearing an electronic tracking device, and 5 years of probation.

Prosecutors stated, "As the head of a religious organization, he used the human and material systems within the denomination to religiously brainwash young female followers." They added, "He repeatedly committed crimes by exploiting the trust relationships with vulnerable victims, and we ask the court to consider as aggravating factors the fact that he committed these crimes again during a repeat-offense period for similar offenses."

Jeong was brought to trial on charges of brainwashing 16 female followers into believing he was the "messiah" and reducing them to a state of inability to resist before groping or sexually assaulting them at locations including a training center in Wolmyeong-dong, Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan-gun, South Chungcheong Province, between 2018 and 2022.

Jeong is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence at Daejeon Prison, which was finalized by the Supreme Court in January of last year, after being convicted of raping a Hong Kong national female follower named Maple and sexually harassing an Australian national female follower named Amy as well as a South Korean female follower.

Prior to this, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for groping or sexually assaulting four female followers in their 20s at a resort in Malaysia, an apartment in Hong Kong, and a lodging in Anshan, China, between August 2001 and April 2006. After serving that sentence, he was released in February 2018.

(Photo provided by Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.