Jung Myung-seok, the president of the Christian Gospel Mission (commonly known as JMS), who was indicted for sexually assaulting and molesting female devotees, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.
The Supreme Court’s 2nd Division (presided over by Justice Oh Kyung-mi) finalized the lower court’s verdict today (9th), which sentenced Jung for charges including quasi-rape, quasi-indecent act by compulsion, and forcible molestation. Additionally, a 15-year period of electronic location tracking (ankle monitor) and a 10-year employment ban at institutions related to children, adolescents, and facilities for the disabled were confirmed.
Jung was indicted and detained on charges of molesting or raping a Hong Kong national devotee named Maple (30) 23 times from February 2018 to September 2021 at the Wolmyeongdong Retreat Center in Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do. He was also accused of molesting an Australian national devotee named Amy (31) and a Korean national devotee.
Jung counter-sued the foreign devotees, claiming their accusations were false, while the prosecution added charges of false accusation against Jung.
The first trial court recognized all allegations against Jung and sentenced him to 23 years in prison.
The second trial court also found Jung guilty of all charges but reduced the sentence to 17 years.
The reasoning was that while all of Jung’s acts should be punished as acts against the victims’ will, it was necessary to distinguish between forcible molestation, which qualifies as a sudden attack, and the other acts exploiting the victims’ psychological inability to resist, and reflect this in the sentencing.
Although Jung appealed, the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal, finding no error in the second trial’s understanding of legal principles.
[Photo Source: Yonhap News / Provided by Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office]
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