"JMS Jeong Myeong-seok Recording Scandal: 'Heaven's Command to Have Sexual Relations with 10,000 Women'"

Netflix Documentary 'I Am God' Released
Victims Reveal Faces and Voices, Make Accusations

The new Netflix documentary "I Am God: People Betrayed by God" (hereinafter "I Am God"), which reveals the reality of Jeong Myeong-seok (78), the president of the Christian Gospel Mission (JMS), has caused a huge stir upon its release.

On the 3rd, Netflix released the eight-part documentary "I Am God," which deals with the stories of four individuals who impersonated God and their victims. This documentary contains the realities of Jeong Myeong-seok, Lee Jae-rok, Kim Ki-soon, and Park Soon-ja, who called themselves gods, along with testimonies from the victims.

In episode 1, "JMS, Brides of God," a woman named Maple from Hong Kong, who claims to have been sexually assaulted by President Jeong Myeong-seok, revealed her name, face, and voice to expose the truth. Ms. Maple said, "I want to prevent any more victims from coming forward," and shared her experience. She claimed that before her disclosure, she was followed by unidentified individuals and that there were people who tried to dissuade her from speaking out.

Ms. Maple also released a recording containing her account of the abuse and Jeong Myeong-seok’s own voice. In the file, Jeong Myeong-seok continued his molestation by saying things like "Hold me tight" and "Oh, your hips are big" to a trembling Maple. Ms. Maple described the situation as "extremely perverted and disgusting," adding, "I kept calling out to God while it was happening. I kept wondering why this was happening to me," shedding tears.

According to the documentary, Jeong Myeong-seok had previously selected young female believers as his brides called "faith stars" and managed them, during which he committed multiple sexual crimes. Furthermore, a petition from pastors who left JMS in 1999 included testimony that Jeong claimed, "It is God's earthly command to make 10,000 women God's lovers through sexual relations."

In another video, Jeong Myeong-seok proclaimed himself as God. He told his followers, "Can't you see God? Can't you? Look at me, God. You don't even need to see God," and said, "The Messiah is determined among those born in 1945 or 1946. I was born in 1945."

Jeong Myeong-seok was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2009 for sexually assaulting a believer and served his sentence. After his release, from February 2018 to September 2021, he was re-arrested last October on charges of forcibly molesting or quasi-raping a total of 17 times, including a female believer of Hong Kong nationality, at a training center in Geumsan-gun, Chungnam Province, and is currently on trial.

The prosecution believes that Jeong Myeong-seok committed the crimes by calling himself the Messiah to his followers and making them unable to refuse his words and actions. However, Jeong denies the charges, stating, "I never brainwashed the victims, nor did I coerce, assault, or threaten them."

JMS Files Injunction to Ban Broadcast... Dismissed

Before the documentary aired, on the 17th of last month, JMS filed an injunction to ban the broadcast, arguing that including ongoing trial content in the documentary violates the presumption of innocence and infringes on religious freedom. However, the court dismissed the injunction on the 2nd, stating, "MBC and Netflix appear to have collected a substantial amount of objective and subjective materials and based the program on them." The court explained, "The JMS leader is a public figure who has caused significant social controversy in the past, and the program's content cannot be said to be unrelated to matters of public interest."