Jung Myung-seok, 81, head of the Christian Gospel Mission, widely known as JMS, has appealed a 33-year prison sentence handed down in a separate sex crime case. He is already serving a 17-year term, finalized after he was convicted of raping female followers whom he had subjected to religious indoctrination.
Jung's lawyers filed the appeal with the Daejeon District Court on the 23rd, legal sources said on the 25th. The court's 11th criminal division, presided over by Judge Park Woo-geun, had sentenced him to 33 years on charges including quasi-rape on the 19th.
Jung was indicted on charges of raping or sexually assaulting 16 female followers between 2018 and 2022 at sites including a retreat center in Wolmyeong-dong, Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan County, South Chungcheong Province. Prosecutors said he had led them to believe he was the Messiah, leaving them psychologically unable to resist. Along with the prison term, the court ordered his personal information disclosed, barred him from working at institutions serving children, adolescents and people with disabilities for 10 years, and required him to wear an electronic tracking device for 15 years.
The court found that religious indoctrination had left the victims psychologically unable to resist Jung's sexual offenses. "The defendant was deified, and it was repeatedly emphasized that he must be absolutely believed and obeyed," the court said. "The followers found it difficult to judge him objectively and were in a psychological state in which resistance was difficult." Prosecutors had sought 27 years, six years less than the term imposed.
Jung is currently serving the 17-year sentence, finalized by the Supreme Court, for raping a Hong Kong national known as Maple and sexually assaulting an Australian national known as Amy and a Korean follower. He had previously served a 10-year sentence for crimes including rape causing injury and was released in February 2018. Additional complaints followed after allegations surfaced, through disclosures by Maple and others, that he had continued to commit sex crimes against female followers after his release.
The case has moved through the courts since Jung was first indicted in May 2024, with additional cases later consolidated into the proceedings. If the 33-year sentence is upheld, his total prison term, including the existing 17 years, will come to 50 years.
Jung denied all the charges during the trial, arguing that the victims' testimony lacked credibility and that they had not been psychologically unable to resist. He is expected to argue on appeal that the court erred in its findings of fact and application of the law, and that the sentence was excessive.