Religious cult, leader ordered to pay $277,000 in damages to victims of sexual assault
Jeong Myung-seok, the leader of Jesus Morning Star church, a religious cult in Korea / Courtesy of Netflix
DAEJEON — A court on Thursday ordered a religious cult, its leader and No. 2 official to pay about 370 million won ($277,000) in damages to three female followers who were sexually assaulted by the leader.
Jeong Myung-seok, the leader of Jesus Morning Star (JMS) church, has been serving a 17-year prison term for sexually assaulting the three women between 2018 and 2021.
The victims — a Hong Kong national named Maple, an Australian named Amy and an unnamed Korean follower — sued Jeong, the church and its No. 2 official for damages.
In its ruling, the Daejeon District Court ordered Jeong and the church to pay 250 million won plus interest to Maple, 80 million won plus interest to Amy and 40 million won plus interest to the Korean victim.
Of the total owed to Maple, the No. 2 official, Kim Ji-seon, was ordered to pay 30 million won plus all of the interest.