The 1st Memorial Ceremony for the victim of Coercive Conversion Programs, Ji In Gu

The 1st Memorial Ceremony for the victim of Coercive Conversion Programs, Ji in Gu

<The reality of coercive conversion>

 

   In February of 2018, the Pyeongchang Olympics was held in Korea. In the attention of the world, the host country of Korea had a good record of 5 gold, 8 silver and 4 bronze medals. In the midst of the excitement of the Republic of Korea, foreign media reported ‘South Korea: The Olympic Games Amid Large-Scale Human Rights Protests’. What incident triggered the massive human rights movement during the Olympics? 

 

   The human rights movement occurred in an attempt to prevent people from dying of coercive conversion. The coercive conversion refers to act that force a person to change religion in an enclosed space, and if the person is not converted, he or she can be damaged physically and mentally by such as confinement and violence. How vicious act is coervice conversion?

 

   In modern society, especially in a country where human rights and religious freedom are guaranteed in the Constitution, forcing people to change their minds in any case is a violation of human rights, forcing them to change their religion is an infringement of liberty, confinement and violence is illegal, and giving physical and mental damage is indiscriminate violence.

 

   Furthermore, if the perpetrator is a religious person, he or she cannot be called a religious person, nor does it deviate from the teachings of religion. And if the perpetrator's purpose is to seek money, it's to be inhumane, knowing only money.

 

   And if the perpetrator are with politics and media to cover up this, the politician and journalist are going to be the same person. These things deceive the people and shouldn't happen in a modern democratic society. But it is happening in South Korea. And the damage of coercive conversion is two deaths, more than 1,000 victims, and their families.

 

   Especially in January of 2018, Ms. Gu died due to coercive conversion. She was imprisoned in a monastery in 2016 and forced to convert. But she escaped dramatically. Since then, she has tried to inform the reality of the illegal conversion. She even posted a petition to the Korean presidential residence, hoping that there would not be a victim like her.

 

   But the government didn't recognize it, and the conversion was not an issue. Coercive conversions continue. Due to public apathy, Ms. Gu was once again imprisoned in a pension in December of 2018. And she died of suffocation by her family’s violence on 9th of January of the following year

 

   On the surface, it looks like the family killed her, but it's actually that there were conversion pastors behind it. They do not act in person and move through their families to avoid the law in case they are prosecuted for coercive conversion. They come between victims and victims’ family so they take money from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of Korean won. Solely, All damage goes to the left family.

 

   Her friends who were with her alive still remembered her and wrote letters for her. ‘Letters To Heaven’

 

   The viciousness of the coercive conversion was posted by 221 media including ABC and NBC in February of 2018 and by more than 120 media around the world including the New York Times ad in December of 2018. However, the reality of coercive conversion in South Korea remains the same. It's so regrettable. In mark of the 1st anniversary of Ms. Gu’s death, we are going to mourn her, cry out more for coercive conversion prohibition, and file conversion pastors.

 

   The 1st Memorial Ceremony for the victim of Coercive Conversion Programs, Ji-in Gu, ‘Remember Gu Ji In, Bloom as a flower of peace’ will begin on 6th of Jan. 2019. (Sun) Noon. (UTC +9) and The Youtube Live Link is http://bit.ly/2F9DQI0

 

Please know it and spread it and join us.