Declares Co-chairperson Ji-hye Choi of the Alliance of the Victims of Forced Conversion

“A woman was kidnapped by her own relatives. Against her will, she was forced to attend a program designed by pastors of the CCK trained to change her religious views. The first time, she escaped and sprang into action, rallying against coercive conversion. The second time, she suffocated to death. Her name was Ji-in Gu. She was not the only victim.”

This was disclosed by Co-chairperson Ji-hye Choi of the Alliance of the Victims of Forced Conversion on Nov. 19, 2018. Here are the details of her disclosures which were published in an advertisement section of The New York Times on Nov. 28, 2018:

An advertisement entitled ‘Ban coercive conversion.’

In recent days there has been much attention given to the abuses of religious freedom around the world.

The United States is increasing efforts to aid people in desperate need of protection from religious persecution. In war-torn nations or emerging and newly formed democracies struggle for stability and religious subjugation exists. Few would think Ji-in Gu’s tragedy occurred in the home of K-pop, South Korea.

Join the protest against the Christian Council of Korea and Coercive Conversion.

Support religious freedom!

Help protect victims like Ji-in Gu. Get informed. Get involved. Scan to learn how.

A citizen reads an article on ‘Ban Coercive Conversion.’

The advertisement of the above statement published by The New York Times was sponsored by some citizens in the New York City, who wanted an end put to the coercive conversion perpetrated by some people against the victim, the late Ji-in Gu who lost her life due to her family who tried to change her religion on the occasion of the first anniversary of her ill fate.

Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitutional Law in the Republic of Korea. However, a woman was kidnapped in Korea late last year because she had a different religion. However, according to sources, the Korean media turned a blind eye to this situation on the ground that it was a case of religion and a family affair.

Against this backdrop, according to a source, there are a group of ‘priests’ who plan and instigate people to carry out such plans as a means of making money. According to sources, a total of 137 persons have fallen victim to such coerced conversion cases as of the end of October this year. Reports indicate that there could occur second and third outbreaks of the Jin-in Gu Case.

Unlike in Korea, the media in the United States and other such countries treat forcing a person to change religion is considered a serious case of human rights violation. And therefore, media limelight was shed on the Case of Jn-in Gu. In fact, following the death of Ji-in Gu, according to sources, resolution meetings and campaign meetings against coerced religious conversion were held in a total of 23 different cities in 15 different countries around the world. New media organizations in a total of 33 countries actively published reports concerning such incidents.

Voluntary supporters of the late Ku chipped in from their free will a fund on the occasion of the first anniversary of the passage of Mr. Ku and published in a well-known daily newspaper in the United States shedding light on the current status of forced religious conversion and pleading for participation in a campaign to put an end to compulsory change of religion.

According to local media reports in New York on Nov. 28, 2018, the late Mrs. Gu was kidnapped by a group of priests of a Korean Christian religious organization in an effort to force her to change her religious viewpoints. When she was first kidnapped, she managed to escape and even took part in a meeting of opponents against forced religious conversion. However, she was kidnapped for the second time when she died of suffocation.

저작권자 © The Korea Post 무단전재 및 재배포 금지