Megachurch pastor's 16-year jail term confirmed for raping congregants

By Bahk Eun-ji

The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced megachurch pastor Lee Jae-rock, 76, to 16 years in prison, Friday, for raping and sexually harassing nine female congregants repeatedly.

Lee Jae-rock

It also ordered Lee, who had more than 130,000 followers at the Manmin Central Church in Seoul, to take 80 hours of therapy classes and banned him from working at child-related institutions for 10 years after serving his prison term.

Lee was arrested in May last year for raping and sexually harassing eight women at the church on over 40 different occasions.

A local court sentenced him to 15 years in prison, saying Lee took advantage of his power, status and the victims' faith and made them mentally unable to resist his sexual violence.

“Most of the victims has attended the church since their teenage years, and regarded him as a holy figure who would lead them to heaven. And Lee used thier faith to rape them repeatedly over a long time, by saying it was God's will,” the court said.

Later the prosecution added another case of rape, increasing the total number of victims to nine, and a high court recognized this additional crime and raised the sentence to 16 years.

Lee denied all allegations and claimed the victims were intentionally defaming him and they were capable of resisting. The courts rejected his claims, saying there were no reasons for the victims to falsely accuse him because they had to risk facing shame and public attention.

Lee was said to have “groomed” the victims for sexual violence since they were young, taking advantage of their religious upbringing.