A district court in Daejeon, South Korea, sentenced Jeong Myung-seok, 81, leader of the Jesus Morning Star (JMS) movement, to 33 years in prison on Monday, 19 October 2026. The court found him guilty of sexual assaults against 16 female followers committed between 2018 and 2022, when he presented himself as the Messiah. The term exceeds the 27 years prosecutors had asked for. Reports describe the ruling as a first-instance verdict.
The court also ordered that his personal information be made public for 10 years and banned him from working at institutions serving children, teenagers and people with disabilities for the same period. He must wear an electronic monitoring device for 15 years after serving his sentence. The group's second-in-command, Kim Ji Seon, was sentenced to seven years in prison, with a 10-year work ban and 80 hours of treatment for sex offenders. In its reasoning, the court pointed to the method and duration of the abuse.
“As the sect leader, he used an absolute status akin to a returning lord to repeatedly molest several female followers.”
He was indicted for using his position as a religious leader to persuade followers that he was the 'Messiah' and to place them in a state where they could not resist before assaulting them. Victims were told they were brides of God and that sexual contact with the leader would bring spiritual purification. The offences took place at the sect's Wolmyeongdong training centre in Geumsan, South Chungcheong province, and at other locations. The court cited the repeated nature of the crimes, the number of victims, the use of religious authority and the fact that the offences occurred after his earlier release.
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Jeong is already serving a 17-year sentence from a Supreme Court ruling of January 2025, for assaulting a woman from Hong Kong and sexually abusing a follower from Australia and another from South Korea. Sources differ on his earlier imprisonment. SAPO says he served ten years between 2008 and 2018 for sexual abuse of members and embezzlement, while TVP links a ten-year term to offences committed between 2001 and 2006. Both place the end of that term in 2018. According to the Independent, he fled to China in 2001 after being charged, was arrested there in May 2007 and was later brought back to South Korea. TVP adds that Interpol issued a red notice against him in 2003.
Jesus Morning Star, whose official name is Christian Gospel Mission according to SAPO, was founded by Jeong. SAPO dates its founding to the early 1980s, while Article-based reporting from Poland gives 1978. The group claims about 100,000 followers. A Dankook University professor, Kim Do-hyung, estimated in 2023 that the figure was at least 20,000 to 30,000, as reported by the Kyunghyang Shinmun. Polish reporting puts the membership at over 100,000 in South Korea and over 10,000 abroad, including in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Recruiters reportedly targeted young women at universities with Bible lessons, sports and modelling. A 2023 Netflix documentary series, In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal, whose first three episodes cover the JMS case, drew wide attention to former followers' accusations.
On 8 October the same court ordered Jeong and JMS to pay about 370 million won, nearly 250,000 euros, to three women as damages, according to SAPO. The 19 October ruling is the latest in a series of convictions against Jeong. The court's sentence is higher than the prosecution's request, which was 27 years.
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A district court in Daejeon on Monday, 19 October 2026, convicted the 81-year-old founder of Jesus Morning Star of sexually assaulting 16 female followers between 2018 and 2022. The 33-year term is longer than the 27 years prosecutors had requested.
AI text based on reports by rmf24.pl, The Independent, SAPO and other publishers. Published .