Many disproven past allegations were resurfaced in the Netflix documentary, In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal. The “Card News” article translation below unlocks the truth behind many of those false allegations. (Original Korean article here.)
A hidden meaning behind his trial, the unknown truth.
Otto Warmbier fell into a vegetative state due to false accusations by North Korea. There are many people in the world who have suffered as a result of unfair trials, such as Joan of Arc who was witch hunted, and Pastor Jung Won Seop, the real-life protagonist of the movie Miracle in Cell No. 7.
There is another person who became a criminal because of public opinion: Jung Myung-seok, the president of the Christian Gospel of Mission (CGM).
March 20, 1993 “I Want to Know” broadcast manipulation by SBS:
The SBS broadcast distorted sermons of Pastor Jung Myung-Seok (Evangelism → Evangelism of Women)
*Edited so that only women were visible on the screen; portrayed the Wolmyeongdong training center, which is open to many people, as a place where esoteric rituals occurred.
In response, the court made a decision recommending a settlement (compensation for damages and a ban on broadcasting), but the SBS broadcast [still] aired three times (in 1999, 2002, and 2007, three episodes each year), and at the start of the airing, SBS [only] included a short caption stating that the broadcast had a court deliberation.
In the end, the truth was obscured and the public opinion towards [Pastor Jung Myung-Seok] worsened.
Due to the influence of the doctored broadcasts, President Jung was falsely accused of sexually assaulting members in 2009 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Amongst lawyers, president Jung Myung-seok’s trial is often recognized as a criminal trial that went against the basic principles of a fair* trial.
Why? Let’s examine the trial process.
*[Unfair] means lack of evidence and unreasonable adoption of evidence, contrary to the principle of presumption of innocence.
An incident that occurred in China on April 4, 2006:
On April 4, 2006, Ms. Jang and Ms. Kim, who claimed to be victims of sexual assault, filed a complaint against Pastor Jung Myung-seok in China.
In China, where sexual assault offenders are regarded as serious criminals like drug offenders, Pastor Jung Myung-seok was harshly investigated for 10 months.
Despite the investigation, the verdict was that he was innocent of sexual assault.
[However], at the request of the Korean prosecutors, he underwent [further] investigation for the trial in China, [upon his return to Korea]. And, there weren’t just one or two questionable areas in this case. There were 12 contradictions that raised questions.
First, there were no signs of sexual assault.
On April 4, 2006, shortly after filing the complaint, the two women were examined at the Central Hospital of Anshan City, China.
The results of the checkup from Central Hospital in Anshan City, China on April 5th and the checkup by the Korean Police Hospital on April 8th were the same:
- “There is no semen detected [by way of chemical testing]. Normal result. There are no signs of rape.”
- “There is absolutely no damage to the vaginal opening, vaginal lining, hymen, and its surroundings, and there is no indication of sexual assault in any way.”
National Institute of Scientific Investigations’ semen test results were negative.
*Sperm can survive between 5 to 14 days in the cervix.
However, all of these test results were not admitted into court.
The plaintiff, Ms. Kim, did not acknowledge the examination results. She had a checkup at the police hospital again on April 10th, and the doctor’s opinion was that, unlike the first time, “a laceration was found.” The laceration was not the severe tears as what was claimed by the complainant, but was “a wound that could have been caused by skin rubbing or riding a bicycle,” as stated by the doctor who had conducted the checkup.
Second, there was the adoption of evidence that should not have been considered official evidence.
There are three requirements for medical records to be formally adopted in court. These are the official chart, a photo of the affected area, and examination by two doctors.
The April 5th Anshan City Central Hospital (China) and the April 8th Korea Police Hospital medical records which state “no wounds or traces of injury” (formal charts, photos of the affected area, 2 doctors’ medical examinations) contrasted with the April 10th single doctor’s opinion written on regular paper [outside of the formal chart] stating, “a laceration was found” (no chart, no picture of the affected area, 1 doctor’s examination).
However, at the trial, the sole opinion from the one doctor was adopted and not the formal medical records [from the two doctors].
Third, medically unfounded statements:
Ms. Kim presented a picture of her own abdomen as evidence that water was forcefully inserted into her vagina at the time of the sexual assault and her abdomen was inflated as a result. The Korean Police Hospital doctor who treated Ms. Kim testified in court that her claim was “medically impossible.”
“Due to the body’s anatomy, water in the vagina is blocked [by the cervix] and could not enter the uterus or abdomen to cause abdominal bloating. In addition, if the abdomen were inflated, then there would still be water in the abdominal cavity during examination the following day, but the [ultrasound] findings of the Chinese hospital showed that there was none (water).”
*From the Chinese written medical opinion: no black zones [(hypoechoic areas)] caused by fluid were seen [on the ultrasound of] the pelvic cavity (for both Ms. Kim and Ms. Jang).
Fourth, CCTV evidence contradicts the victim’s claim:
The victims testified, “I was severely assaulted during the interview and suffered deep wounds that made it difficult for me to walk.”
However, according to CCTV, on the day of the incident and the next day, the two victims were seen laughing and joking around. And contrary to their statement, their gait did not look uncomfortable at all.
Fifth, the testimony of the interpreter at the time of the Chinese hospital check-up.
The interpreter who helped with Chinese interpretation at the Chinese Public Security on the day of the incident [(alleged assault)] and at the hospital, attended as a witness during the Korean trial.
Interpreter: After the examination, the doctor said that Ms. Kim was a virgin and that Ms. Jang was not. When the doctor asked Ms. Jang, “When did you have sex?” Ms. Jang said, “I was assaulted when I was 16 or 17.” (Ms. Jang was in her 20s at the time of the [alleged] incident).
*Source: Seoul Central District Court record of the examination of a witness (part of the 8th trial report), Case 2008 – 2*
Attorney: Did the doctor say they had cuts and bleeding?
Interpreter: No. The doctor said both of them were clear of these findings. The doctor said that Ms. Kim was menstruating at the time. It seems that Ms. Jang started her period while at the public security office around 9:00 PM that evening.
*Source: Seoul Central District Court record of the examination of a witness (part of the 8th trial report), Case 2008 – 2*
Sixth, the statements of Ms. Kim and Ms. Jang were different before and after the hospital examination.
Ms. Kim and Ms. Jang, who testified that they had severe stomach aches and bleeding due to the severe sexual assault, gave different statements when they returned to the public security office after being examined at the hospital.
Interpreter: At first, both of them said that the defendant Jung Myung-Seok had inserted his penis and ejaculated, but after going to the hospital, they changed their statement. There was no penile insertion, and they reversed their statements to say that they did not know whether there was ejaculation.
*Source: Seoul Central District Court record of the examination of a witness (part of the 8th trial report), Case 2008 – 2*
Seventh, the source of the photo is unclear.
The body picture presented by Ms. Kim as evidence did not indicate the date, location, or photographer. There was no objective data from which to confirm [the date, location of and who took the photo], but this photo was admitted as evidence at the trial.
Eighth, the trial ended without the China judgment material being submitted to the court:
During the trial, lawyers asked the Korean prosecutors for the Chinese investigation records, but the prosecutors, for some reason, did not provide them at the time.
In addition, although this trial became a public concern, it was conducted without any on-site verification and lie detector procedures. Defendant Jung Myeong-seok was questioned by the judge at the court, and the victims participated in the trial in a separate space.
Ninth, was it a judicial trial? Was it the Inquisition*?
The Christian Council of Korea, who regarded the CGM as a heresy, filed a petition, and some of the judges were Christian elders and deacons.
[*Starting in the 12th century and continuing for 100s of years, the Inquisition was established by the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy throughout the Americas and Europe.]
The ruling mentions “the unfounded JMS religious doctrine” in addition to the “testimony about the case of sexual assault” as the basis of the ruling.
- Defendant Jung Myung-seok summarized and quoted the doctrine of the Unification Church since around 1980. He organized a religious group called “Jesus Methodist Church” (Jesus Morning Star, also the English initials of Jung Myung-seok, hereinafter referred to as JMS).
- Defendant Jung Myung-seok also called himself Jesus, saying, “I am Jesus of the Second Coming sent by God, I can bless or curse people, and I can heal all kinds of diseases…”
(Actually, JMS has never been used as an official name, and the Christian Gospel Mission teaches that “a person cannot be God.”)
Tenth, involvement of anti-JMS groups?
On April 4th, the day of the [alleged] incident, Ms. Jang and Ms. Kim returned to Korea right after filing the complaint in China and completing a few hours of medical check-ups. Then, on April 7th, they filed another complaint in Korea. However, in the complaint filed, Ms. Kim’s name was only typed via Microsoft Word, so there was no signature seal.
Also attached to the complaint were materials produced by an anti-JMS group called Exodus, who was not directly related to the incident. It creates suspicion that Exodus and Ms. Kim were in contact before she went to China.
Then, who are they [(Exodus)], and why would they accuse an innocent person?
