A South Korean cult leader has been arrested after abandoning 400 of her followers in Fiji.
Grace Road Church founder Shin Ok-ju and three other senior members of the group were arrested at Incheon International Airport on Sunday, according to a statement by police in Gyeonggi province.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
As leader of Grace Road Church, Shin preaches an apocalyptic brand of Christianity which has been “pinpointed by major Korean church denominations as heretical”, Korean Christian newspaper The Kukmin Times reports.
In 2014, Shin began prophesying a disastrous famine, encouraging her devotees to found a new colony on far-flung Fiji, which she said would offer them the best chance of survival.
Hundreds left their homes and travelled 5,000 miles to the South Pacific island, where they were “ordered to live together in a small community under the supervision of ‘guardians’ handpicked by the pastor”, the Korea Times reports.
Guardians forced members to take part in a ritual called “threshing ground,“ in which they were told they had to beat each other or face God's punishment.
A former member of the cult told a TV interviewer that one young member “had to hit his father more than 100 times”. Another followed sustained serious brain damage from injuries inflicted during one of the bloody ordeals.
A handful of members have been able to escape the community and raise the alarm with South Korean authorities, but the vast majority remain in Fiji.
-
Political cartoons for December 19Cartoons Friday’s political cartoons include unemployment rates, taunts and prayers, and more
-
Who is paying for Europe’s €90bn EU loan?Today’s Big Question Kyiv secures crucial funding but the EU ‘blinked’ at the chance to strike a bold blow against Russia
-
Quiz of The Week: 13 – 19 DecemberQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
