An 80-year-old religious cult leader already serving 17 years for raping and sexually assaulting his followers has been indicted on charges of assaulting four more victims.
Jeong Myeong-seok, the leader of the Christian Gospel Mission religious cult, otherwise known as the Jesus Morning Star (JMS), was indicted on Tuesday for assaulting four more women who were also members of the cult.
Kim Ji-seon, considered Jeong's JMS right-hand woman, was also charged with assisting Jeong's crimes, according to the Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office.
The charge adds to two indictments last year — one in May and another in November — coming after the Supreme Court upheld his prison sentence.
Those two prior indictments involved two and eight victims, respectively. The cases have since been combined and are being tried together. Kim received a final sentence of seven years in prison in October last year.
The four women identified in the new indictment are not among the 10 victims already involved in Jung’s earlier ongoing trial. With the latest charges, the total number of alleged victims in Jeong’s active trials has now risen to 14.
Prosecutors have requested that the court merge the new case with the ongoing trial.
Professor Kim Do-hyung, who has been supporting the victims, expressed concern over further delays.
“The two victims from the May indictment have already completed their testimonies, and the victims in the November case are also nearing the end of theirs,” he said. “With the cases continually being merged, there is a high possibility that the verdict will be delayed again. Considering how exhausted the victims are, we hope the new case will be handled separately so that a timely first-instance ruling can be delivered.”
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
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