| Jung Myung Seok | |
|---|---|
| Hangul | 정명석 |
| Hanja | 鄭明析 |
| Revised Romanization | Jeong Myeong(-)seok |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chŏng Myŏng-sŏk |
Jung Myung-Seok (born February 17, 1945) is the founder of an international organization called Providence. He is also known by the names of Joshua Jung, Joshua Lee Jung, Joshua Lee, and JMS.[1]
Since founding his first site in Seoul, South Korea in 1980 Jung has developed his organization into a Christian religious movement with sites in 50 different nations over the course of the past 30 years. He has also established organizations celebrating culture, peace, and the arts including the Global Association of Culture and Peace (GACP) and Peace Model.
In 1999 Jung was accused of sexual abuse and he was officially charged in 2001.[2] During that time he fled Korea. He visited churches in Europe and traveled back and forth between various regions of his organization in Asia.[3] In May 2007 Jung was taken into custody by Chinese police and imprisoned in China for 10 months.[4][5]
In January 2008, the Supreme Court of South Korea tried Jung based on the testimonies of two young women.[6][7] In August 2008, Jung was convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment. In April 2009, the Supreme court of South Korea extended the sentence to 10 years imprisonment.[8] He is currently serving his sentence and still continues to publish proverbs, songs, books, as well as the Sunday and Wednesday message for Providence churches all over the world every week.[9]
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Jung was born in a small high altitude mountain village named Sukmak-ri (Wolmyung-dong or Dalbak-gol) in Geumsan County, South Chungcheong as the third child among six sons and one daughter. According to him he began calling out to God at age 6 and attending the local church at 9 years old. His family were very poor farmers. Though his older brothers continued to learn on into high school, his parents pulled him out of school after completing the elementary years to work the fields complaining that it was too expensive to continue his basic education.
He spent all of his early years and teens up in the mountains until 1966, when he was drafted into his first term of service in the Vietnam war. After his first term he returned voluntarily to serve a second term, fulfilling two terms of duty in Vietnam (1966 to 1969). Once his service in Vietnam was complete he returned to his life of prayer and farming in his small hometown village.[10]
On June 1, 1978 he left his village at 34 years old and went to Seoul, South Korea. There he began his first church which over the course of the last 30 years has grown into the international religious movement known as, "Providence."[10]
Jung is a former member of the Unification Church.[11] Jung has learned and use many of Sun Myung Moon teachings and methods. He has used some of Moon's teachings such as Shim Jung to be major themes in his organization. <ref"Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". http://www.tparents.org/moon-talks/sunmyungmoon73/SM730220.htm.</ref>
In March 1982, he established MS Missionaries (Christian Gospel Mission today). The following November he graduated from Wesley Theological School.[10]
In 1999, Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) in Korea reported about sexual abuse allegedly committed by Jung. This resulted in Jung fleeing the country one day later.[12] However, accusations surfaced in other countries, and in 2001 he was investigated by Taiwanese authorities causing him to flee Taiwan.[13]
In February 2001, he founded Christian Gospel Mission (CGM) Volunteer Group. During this period he also founded Global Association of Culture and Peace (GACP), which held large international assemblies to celebrate culture and the arts including modeling, fashion, cheer, and sports. He visited and helped establish the international Providence churches outside of Korea including United States, England, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.[10][14]
Jung was arrested in 2003 for illegal stay in Hong Kong but when released on bail, fled the extradition hearing.[15][16] Following this, he managed to evade arrest until May 2007 in China. He was extradited back to South Korea on February 20, 2008.[17]
Upon his return from China, Jung began preaching that the most urgent thing for this time period is to prepare for the Lord's imminent second coming which Jung states will happen in 10,000 years. A common theme in Jung's sermons is that believers should prepare in our daily life of faith by maintaining a bride level relationship of spiritual love with the Lord as preached in the Matthew 25:1-13 [18]
A distinction between Christianity and Providence is that Providence is to a similar cult not a denomination, but Providence churches share many of doctrines as most Christian denominations. The difference is members of his movement view his interpretations as direct revelation from God. Most traditional Christian churches interpret scripture to have literal and figurative meanings. But according to Jung's interpretation, scripture referring to rapture, resurrection, advent, and even the Lord's second coming should only be understood to not have a physical aspect, but only also a figurative aspect of his interpretation. He also stresses that the Lord Jesus Christ will not come back in his physical body at the second coming, but will come in spirit and must be received in spirit.[19]
Members of the church are known to form non-religious organisations for the purpose of attracting young people without initially revealing the religious nature of the group or their real motives,[20] in a practice which has been described as "fraudulent" by lawyers.[21][22]
When rape allegations against Jung from anonymous accusers surfaced, the news media broadcasts in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan as well as the articles printed in newspaper tabloids published the sensational material labeling Jung a criminal even before a formal accusation had been made and it labeled the organization of Providence as a cult.
A monthly magazine, Civil Government, published an article in its February issue, under the title, “Why is JMS (CGM)’s President Jung Myung Seok carrying the cross?” and listed the problems of his trials, item by item. Cha, an active journalist who had been following the case and frequenting police stations for eleven years reported the following:
| “ | A Media took an excerpt from a 1995 Sunday sermon entitled, “Life of Thanksgiving.” The Media modulated President Jung’s voice in the part where he says, ‘The tithe of life—evangelize one person out of ten’ to make it difficult to clearly hear what he actually says. Then the Media added a subtitle that read, ‘one woman,’ when it was aired. This quote inevitably made the viewers think President Jung Myung Seok to be a leader with sexual problems. Furthermore, when the Media aired the footage of the services or events of the organization, even though both males and females are shown in the original video, the Media edited the scenes so that only females would be visible. In this way, A Media gave the audience an impression that President Jung was a religious leader who dealt only with females. | ” |
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—Civil Government, Magazine/ Retrial needed for the case of Jung Myung Seok |
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Jung's accusers refused to give their identity remaining unnamed and the journalists did not interview anyone from the church resulting in one sided reporting. The Media’s biased report was found to be legally wrongful at that time. In Korea, Providence church filed a suit against the Korean news and the court ruled in favor of the church, ordering the following: 1) the media must not use one-sided material provided by the informer and others; 2) the media must inform the organization 48 hours before broadcasting; 3) the media must guarantee 5% of the broadcasting time to [the Church] so that their rebuttal will also be aired; 4) if these orders are violated, the media must pay damages in the amount of 30 million won (about the equivalent of $30,000) for each violation. The court decision acknowledging the media’s errors and biased reporting was not made widely known to viewers. But a similar case was filed in Taiwan and the Taiwanese news media that broadcasted the report made a public apology.[1][9]
The magazine Civil Government also reported several reasons to doubt the validity of the testimonies given by Jung's initial accusers during the trial,
| “ | Plaintiff C, who filed the suit as co-plaintiffs and initially claimed that she was sexually assaulted, declared that she committed perjury, and she withdrew her suit.
... Plaintiff C completely denied the assault allegations. Even though the court warned her, saying ‘If your testimony differs from the contents of the complaint, you could be penalized,’ C clearly said, ‘I’m fine even if I will be penalized. The truth is that I was not sexually assaulted. Plaintiff D who filed the suit with me wasn’t raped or sexually assaulted either at all. But incited by the informer, she filed a false suit and has given false testimonies until now.’ |
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—Civil Government, Magazine/ Retrial needed for the case of Jung Myung Seok |
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In response to the rape allegations, Providence pastor[23] Bae Jae-yong said that it was "distorted rumor that was created by the people who have slandered him" and that "all fundamental truth will be clarified by [Jung] at the prosecutor's office".[17] (This was before he was convicted.)
In April 2006, a press conference was held by EXODUS in which four unidentified women accused Jung of organised sex crimes against themselves and other women.[24] which necessitated medical treatment.[25] But according to Cha, the journalist who investigated the case for 11 years, the "informer" played the role of filing complaints on behalf of the plaintiffs behind the scenes and even wrote a letter of confession apologizing to Jung Myung Seok in which he said,
| “ | President Jeong, I deeply regret that I backstabbed you, defamed you by spreading scandals against you, and caused you a deep wound. | ” |
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—Civil Government, Magazine/ Why is JMS’ President Jung Myung Seok carrying the cross? |
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The letter was hand-written by ‘the informer’ himself, including his seal and photo. He even had the letter authenticated before he sent it to the Church’s central office.
In January 2007, police raided a total of 8 Providence facilities in Japan on suspicion a senior member illegally obtained residence status.[26] The senior member, second in command of Providence's Japanese branch, fled to Taiwan according to law authorities. Taiwan has no criminal extradition treaty with Japan.[27]
The court relied only on the testimony of the plaintiffs and not on any evidence presented. It was revealed that the plaintiffs made up evidence to exaggerate and falsify. Even though it was exposed that the witnesses were unsavory enough to concoct evidence in an attempt to strengthen their argument, the judges accepted the charges brought by the plaintiffs.[9]
In August 2008, Jung was sentenced to six years imprisonment. In April 2009, the Supreme court of South Korea extended the sentence to 10 years imprisonment. In the event Jung’s side files a motion for retrial based on the new evidences or material that could reverse the previous finding, seeking acquittal, it is expected that this case may be placed at a stage where it seeks a new ruling through a retrial. However, since the prosecutor’s office and the court stand behind the accusations of the plaintiffs and the informer, with the court ruling in their favor, it is unknown whether this case can be reversed at retrial.[1]
He is currently serving his sentence and still continues to publish proverbs, songs, books, as well as the Sunday and Wednesday message for Providence churches all over the world every week.[9]