A South Korean Pastor has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for
raping eight of his members more than 40 different occasions at his
mega-church in Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported.
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| South Korean Pastor Lee Jae Rock, in chain |
Lee Jae Rock of the Manmin Central Church, which has about 130,000
followers, was convicted by the Seoul Central District Court of using
his authority to commit the rapes, the agency reported.
The 75-year-old regularly took advantage of his followers’ trust in
him as a man close to God, Yonhap quoted the court as saying.
The church, which was founded by Lee in 1982 and claims to have more
than 10,000 branches around the world, was expelled by the Christian
Council of Korea in 1999 under the accusation of “heresy.’’
On its website, the church claims that “countless have received God’s
healing of such incurable and terminal diseases as AIDS, cancer, and
the like on the spot when Rev Dr Lee prayed not by placing his hand on
each of the sick but merely from the pulpit.’’
