JMS founder Jung Myung-seok. [Herald DB]
JMS founder Jung Myung-seok. [Herald DB]

A court has ordered Jung Myung-seok, the 81-year-old founder of the Christian Gospel Mission — commonly known as JMS — and the church to pay hundreds of millions of won in damages to sexual assault victims.

The 12th Civil Division of Daejeon District Court, presided over by Judge Im Seong-sil, ruled Thursday that Jung and the church must jointly pay 250 million won ($186,000) plus interest to Maple, a Hong Kong national. The ruling came in a damages lawsuit filed by three female church members — Maple, Amy, an Australian national, and a Korean woman identified only as A — against Jung, the church, and Kim Ji-seon, 48, considered the second-in-command of JMS.

The court also ordered Jung and the church to pay Amy 80 million won plus interest, and A 40 million won plus interest.

Kim was separately ordered to pay, jointly with Jung and the church, 30 million won plus interest out of the total amount owed to Maple.

Jung was indicted on charges of sexually assaulting and molesting Maple between February 2018 and September 2021 at a retreat center in Wolmyeong-dong, Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan-gun, South Chungcheong Province, and of molesting Amy and A. The Supreme Court upheld a 17-year prison sentence against him.

He was also found guilty of filing false counter-complaints with police against the foreign female church members, claiming they had fabricated the sexual assault allegations against him.

Kim, widely described as Jung's designated successor, was indicted on charges of participating in Jung's quasi-rape offenses between March and April 2018. She received a seven-year prison sentence at the first instance and is currently serving that term.

The victims filed the damages lawsuit in 2024, with Maple seeking 500 million won ($373,000) and Amy and the Korean church member each seeking approximately 150 million won and 100 million won, respectively.

The victims' legal representatives said at the time that "the church and its officials systematically participated in Jung Myung-seok's sexual violence and enabled his illegal conduct," adding that "the serious secondary harm inflicted on the victims during the investigation process was also reflected in the damages claimed."


husn7@heraldcorp.com