A Religious Liberty Crisis in Korea. 3. Criminal Anti-Cultism: Deprogramming

The practice of kidnapping, confining, and “de-converting” members of “cults” has been banned in all democratic countries—except Korea, where some victims died.

By Massimo Introvigne

August 28, 2025

Article 3 of 4. Read article 1 and article 2.

Massive protests in Seoul after female Shincheonji devotee Gu Ji-In was killed during a deprogramming attempt in December 2017.

Deprogramming originated in the United States as a form of “counter-brainwashing.” Critics argued that if members of “cults” had been “brainwashed,” they required a vigorous intervention to be “rescued” from their religious groups. This involved kidnapping—usually at the behest of their parents—detaining individuals, and subjecting them to intensive indoctrination by professional “deprogrammers.” Scholars studying new religious movements generally viewed the concept of “brainwashing” as a pseudoscientific myth. Nonetheless, deprogrammers convinced parents that their adult children were genuinely “brainwashed” and in need of expensive “rescue.”

Deprogramming, which involved illegal acts such as kidnapping, false imprisonment, and often violence, was effectively stopped by courts in North America and Europe before the late 20th century. However, it persisted in Japan, where deprogrammers mostly consisted of Protestant ministers. The Unification Church has historically been the primary victim of deprogramming there, with more than 4,000 victims. It fought for years to ban the practice in Japan, finally succeeding with a 2014 ruling by the Tokyo High Court, upheld by the Supreme Court in 2015. This case revolved around Toru Goto, a Unification Church member confined and deprogrammed for over twelve years. His significant book recounting the experience is a crucial read on deprogramming in Japan.

In the current climate in Japan, heavily influenced by the post-Abe-assassination anti-cult sentiment, there is a possibility that deprogramming practices might resurface. The legal case against the Unification Church primarily depends on civil rulings where ex-members who underwent deprogramming were forced to sue the church, often under the threat of re-confinement.

South Korea is the only democratic nation where courts have not banned deprogramming. Similar to Japan, most deprogrammers in South Korea are pastors from fundamentalist Christian churches. A key difference from Japan is that the Unification Church remains largely unaffected by deprogramming practices in Korea. Unlike other religious groups such as Providence, the World Mission Society Church of God, or Shincheonji, whose members have been victimized by deprogramming in the thousands, the Unification Church in Korea lacks many recent college-age converts. Most of its young members are second-generation, with parents who are members and certainly unlikely to fund deprogramming. Nonetheless, the fact that Korean anti-cultists provide theoretical justifications for deprogramming—considered criminal in most democracies—reveals their true nature and helps explain their hostility towards the Unification Church.

A girl victim of deprogramming tries to tell the deprogrammer that she has been abducted and wants to leave—to no avail. Note that this is a screenshot from a propaganda video by the Christian network CBS promoting deprogramming. The scene was real and captured with a hidden camera.

Deprogramming in South Korea mirrors the Japanese approach. Usually, parents kidnap their children, and deprogrammers only intervene once the victims are secured in a hotel, resort, or religious center. This allows the deprogrammers to avoid kidnapping charges, as they guide parents on how to proceed and request victims to sign a statement claiming they “consent” to deprogramming. Korean culture’s emphasis on family complicates legal action by children against parents. However, some victims managed to escape deprogramming and took legal action against both parents and deprogrammers. Courts have convicted some parents, but not the deprogrammers, citing that they did not partake in physical violence.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Human Rights Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs—established by Shincheonji—had documented over 2,000 deprogramming incidents involving victims from diverse religious backgrounds.

Three cases involving Shincheonji members resulted in the victims’ deaths. Kim Sun-Hwa was beaten with a metal bar by her ex-husband, whom she had divorced after his failed attempt at deprogramming, and she died on October 11, 2007. The more widely publicized case was the death of Gu Ji-In in 2018. For Gu, this was her second deprogramming; a previous attempt in 2016 had failed because she only pretended to be successfully deprogrammed and, once released from captivity, rejoined Shincheonji. On December 29, 2017, Gu’s parents used a family trip as a pretext to abduct her again. She was taken to a remote recreational lodge in Hwasun (Jeonnam, South Jeolla Province), where she was held captive. When she threatened to escape, her father bound and gagged her, causing her to suffocate. Gu lost consciousness and was declared brain-dead on December 30, 2017. Her heart stopped beating on January 9, 2018.

South African Shincheonji members and religious liberty activists at a memorial service for Gu Ji-In held in 2018 in Cape Town.

In 2022, the incident known as the Jeongeup murder case occurred, where a husband murdered his ex-wife, who was a member of Shincheonji, as well as his sister-in-law. Before committing the acts, he consulted with Pastor Oh Myeong-hyeon, the director of the Jeonbuk Regional Heresy Counseling Center. Pastor Oh convinced him that the “cult” was evil and that his ex-wife needed to be deprogrammed. Various factors beyond religion contributed to the murder, whose perpetrator was sentenced to 45 years in prison. In response to the incident, Pastor Oh held a press conference and participated in several events, defending the practice of deprogramming and blaming Shincheonji for the tragic events. Oh was also involved in anti-Unification Church conferences organized in Korea together with Japanese anti-cultists after the assassination of Shinzo Abe in 2022. Shincheonji responded to the Jeongeup murder by holding new demonstrations against Pastor Oh and the biased media coverage.

However, deprogramming persisted in South Korea despite the demonstrations, as later U.S. State Department reports confirmed. This troubling practice continues today.

In 2019, the Christian network CBS captured two deprogrammings on hidden cameras—one successful and one failed. In the second incident, the victim called the police and was freed. Before the officers arrived, the female deprogrammer explained that police intervention would depend on which officers answered the call—whether they considered it a “family affair” or not. The officers who responded were unsympathetic to the deprogrammers, allowing the victim to escape.

In 2020, Italian scholar Raffaella Di Marzio, who had studied deprogramming in Italy, published an analysis of the videos. She observed that there was no attempt to hide the violence. The fact that the two victims were forcibly coerced into going to the deprogramming center was openly discussed, and one was filmed while the parents physically prevented her from leaving. The deprogrammers lectured the two girls, explaining that “even if they forced you, they are still your parents,” and the victims were told to respect them and submit to their violence.

Source: bitterwinter.org