Shin Ok-ju, the founder of Grace Road Church, warned of impending war, famine and natural disaster. She convinced her followers to move to the South Pacific island to survive and find a new home. Hundreds of people from around the world followed, according to the Grace Road Church website.
“The accused has absolute authority over the followers and all criminal acts including ground thrashing were unable to be carried out without her directions. Her responsibility is very heavy,” the Anyang sub-court of the Suwon District Court, in a province neighboring the South Korean capital, said in a statement on Monday.
The church’s corporate arm, GR Group, set to work opening businesses across the small Pacific island, in industries like construction to agriculture. They set their sights on Fiji and quickly began “laying the eternal foundation to raise Fiji to be the center of the world as promised in the Bible.”
Once in Fiji, her followers had their passports taken away and many of them reported being beaten to “drive out evil spirits.”
Ok-ju was arrested — and three of her followers were detained —after flying into Seoul on July 24, 2018 on charges of forced confinement and physical assault, South Korean police said at the time. Authorities had to grapple with how to repatriate members of Grace Road Church from Fiji, where they said many had been stranded without legal documents.
A South Korean court found Ok-ju guilty of 9 charges including assault, imprisonment, fraud, child abuse and ordering child neglect.
“The defendant not only committed assault and imprisonment but committed fraud, child abuse and ordering of child neglect,” the judge said in the sentencing paper, obtained by CNN. “The victims, on top of the sufferings listed in the indictment, had lost their family or suffered mental trauma.”
The ruling said that children who were victims of the cult, “had been rid of education and caring from the early age and had suffered greatly in proper growth and personal development.” Ok-ju also said followers must pay for visas that cost 30 million South Korean won, or $25,000.
About half of South Korea’s 50 million population identify as Protestants or Catholics but several million belong to groups that promote cultish behavior and fringe beliefs, according to the South China Morning Post.
