Manmin cult pastor Lee Jae-Rock sentenced to 16 years in jail for rape

We heard the rumors for years that Lee Jae-Rock was womanizing and using younger women in his church.  Now those rumors became confirmed in November 2018.

He was originally sentenced to 15 years in jail for the serial rape of eight female church members.

Seoul Central District Court on Thursday sentenced Lee Jae-rock, the senior pastor of Manmin Joong-ang Church, for tens of offenses against his female church members. The court also ordered 80 hours of sexual offense treatment and banned Lee from working in child-related facilities for 10 years.

The Seoul Central District Court convicted Lee Jae-rock, 75, the leader of the Manmin Central Church in Seoul, of abusing his authority to rape eight women in their 20s over the past eight years.

"Most of the victims has attended the church since their teenage years, and regarded him as a holy figure who would lead them to heaven. And Lee used thier faith to rape them repeatedly over a long time, by saying it was God's will," the court said.

Later the prosecution added another case of rape, increasing the total number of victims to nine, and a high court recognized this additional crime and in August 2019 raised the sentence to 16 years.

Lee denied all allegations and claimed the victims were intentionally defaming him and they were capable of resisting. The courts rejected his claims, saying there were no reasons for the victims to falsely accuse him because they had to risk facing shame and public attention.

Lee was said to have "groomed" the victims for sexual violence since they were young, taking advantage of their religious upbringing.

The court also ordered him to take an 80-hour therapy session and barred him from working at any institution related to children and adolescents for 10 years after his release.

"The victims suffered enormously after being betrayed by the leader they once trusted," the court said. "Lee, however, has denied all his wrongdoings and inflicted more mental damage on the victims during the hearings by revealing the sensitive parts of their private lives."

The court also said Lee tried to deify himself as a god through his sermons.

The Manmin Central Church, which claims to be a Protestant Christian church, was believed to have 130,000 members at the time of his arrest.

The Manmin Central Church leader had denied the charges, but the judge added that “through his sermons the accused has indirectly or directly suggested he is the holy spirit, deifying himself”.

Lee closed his eyes as the judgment was read, according to the BBC.

His lawyers had accused his victims of seeking revenge after they were excommunicated.

But the New York Times reported that the cult-like leader had been followed by accusations of sexual abuse for decades. “While attending his church from an early age, the victims were led to believe that the way to heaven lay in treating the accused like God and obeying him,” it quoted Judge Chung as saying.

CNN cited a district court press release as saying Lee was known to have assaulted multiple victims at the same time.