Prosecutors Seek 27-Year Prison Sentence for JMS Leader Jung Myung-seok

A heavy prison sentence has been sought for Jung Myung-seok, the leader of the Christian Gospel Mission (JMS), who is on trial for sexually assaulting female followers.

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

They also requested a 10-year employment ban at institutions for children, adolescents, and people with disabilities, along with 20 years of electronic monitoring 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 indoctrinate young female followers." They added, "Please take into account unfavorable factors such as the fact that he repeatedly committed crimes by exploiting the trust of vulnerable individuals and that he committed these offenses again during a repeat offense period for similar crimes."

Jung has been on trial on charges of abusing and sexually assaulting 16 female followers by indoctrinating them to believe he is the "Messiah," rendering them incapable of resisting, at locations including the Wolmyeongdong training center in Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan-gun, South Chungcheong Province, between 2018 and 2022.

Previously, he was sentenced to 17 years in prison by the Supreme Court in January of last year for sexually assaulting a Hong Kong national follower named Maple and forcibly groping an Australian national follower named Amy as well as a South Korean follower, and he is currently serving his sentence at Daejeon Prison.

Jung was previously 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 residence in Anshan, China, from August 2001 to April 2006. After serving that sentence, he was released from prison in February 2018.

(Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Kim Na-on | Design by Yang Hae-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.