'Goddess Sexual Assault' Charge JMS Jeong Myeong-seok First Trial Appeal

Attorney Jeong: "No Sexual Assault, Sentencing Guidelines Exceeded"
Court Sentences to 23 Years Imprisonment in First Trial

Jung Myung-seok, the 78-year-old president of the Christian Gospel Mission (JMS), who was sentenced to a heavy prison term on charges of sexually assaulting and forcibly molesting female followers, has appealed the first trial verdict.

According to the legal community on the 24th, Jung, who was indicted on charges including quasi-rape, quasi-indecent assault, forcible molestation, and quasi-forcible molestation, submitted an appeal to the Criminal Division 12 of the Daejeon District Court through his attorney on the 22nd. The reasons for the appeal are factual misrecognition, legal misinterpretation, and unfair sentencing.

Jung’s attorney explained the reasons for the appeal, stating, "There was no fact of sexually assaulting or molesting the victims, nor did he claim himself to be a divine being such as the Second Coming of Jesus, and the victims were not in a state incapable of resistance. Also, the sentence is unfairly heavy, deviating from the Supreme Court’s sentencing guidelines."

On the 22nd, the Criminal Division 12 of the Daejeon District Court (Presiding Judge Na Sang-hoon) sentenced Jung to 23 years in prison, exceeding the Supreme Court Sentencing Commission’s guidelines (4 years to 19 years and 3 months), stating, "He repeatedly committed sexual violence against many believers who were religiously vulnerable, and he deliberately exploited the mental and physical disability of a female believer who obeyed him."

The prosecution, which requested a 30-year prison term for Jung at the sentencing hearing, has not appealed so far.

Jung was detained and indicted on charges of molesting or sexually assaulting a female follower of Hong Kong nationality 23 times at training centers such as Wolmyeong-dong in Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan-gun, Chungnam, from March 2018 to September 2021, and sexually molesting female followers of Australian and Korean nationality. Investigations revealed that Jung committed the crimes after brainwashing the believers by calling himself the Messiah.

He was also prosecuted on charges of false accusation, as foreign female followers counter-sued the police claiming they were falsely accused of sexual crimes. Jung’s side denied the charges, stating that the female followers were not sexually brainwashed or in a state incapable of resistance, and that he continuously preached that he was a human, not a god.