Fiji “eradicates” controversial sect

Fiji’s Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration, Pio Tikoduadua, said that seven Grace Road members (including Daniel Kim, the son of the founder of the Grace Road sect) would be sent back to South Korea. Two of the seven Grace Road members were deported to South Korea on the evening of September 6.

Mr Tikoduadua added that two Grace Road members are currently on the run.

FBC TV (Fiji) quoted Mr. Tikoduadua as saying that the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) had urged the Fijian government to arrest senior members of the Grace Road sect. However, this request had been ignored for many years.

“In July 2018, Interpol issued a red notice for Grace Road members, fugitives who are being prosecuted. However, the previous government ignored it,” said Mr Tikoduadua.

Shin Ok-ju, pastor of Grace Road Church in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, founded the Grace Road sect. Grace Road has established a business group in Fiji and opened a chain of restaurants in South Korea. The sect has received an award from the South Korean prime minister for its rice farming model.

Fiji “xóa sổ” giáo phái gây tranh cãi - Ảnh 1.

Pastor Shin Ok-ju founded the Grace Road sect. Photo: New York Daily News

Shin Ok-ju had predicted that Korea would suffer famine and disaster. So in 2014, Shin Ok-ju persuaded 400 of her followers to move to Fiji with her, claiming that it would save them from natural disasters.

However, upon arrival in Fiji, the parishioners had their passports confiscated. Many were brutally beaten and forced to participate in violent rituals aimed at exorcising evil spirits.

Parishioners were forced to work without pay and attend evening sermons. Some former parishioners told the media that those who attempted to flee the church were publicly beaten.

Shin Ok-ju was arrested in July 2018. On July 29, 2019, the Anyang City Court (South Korea) sentenced Shin Ok-ju to 6 years in prison for illegal detention and beating of followers. Five other leaders of the sect were also sentenced to sentences ranging from suspended sentences to 42 months in prison.

South Korea is home to several controversial religious sects that have attracted thousands of members from home and abroad over the years.

In 2020, South Korean authorities arrested Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji religious sect, on charges of concealing information and other crimes that caused the country's largest COVID-19 outbreak.

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