"Be a Faithful Servant" Pastor Habitually Sexually Harasses Teenage Congregants, Forcing Kisses

A pastor who repeatedly sexually assaulted teenage church members was sentenced to 7 years in prison. Photo by Yonhap News.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] A pastor who habitually sexually harassed teenage church members by exposing his genitals and forcibly kissing them was sentenced to prison.

The Chuncheon District Court Criminal Division 2 (Chief Judge Jin Wondu) announced on the 10th that Pastor A (70), who was indicted on charges including rape of a minor under the Youth Protection Act, was sentenced to seven years in prison.

The court also ordered A to complete an 80-hour sexual violence treatment program, disclose his personal information for five years, and restrict employment at child and youth-related institutions for ten years.

The court stated the sentencing reasons, saying, "He repeatedly committed crimes by abusing the authority he held as a pastor and the victims' family environments. Moreover, he showed no remorse by blaming the victims as heretics and was not forgiven by the victims."

A, a pastor of a church in Gangwon Province and operator of a local children's center, called B (then 18 years old) to the church office in the summer of 2008 and engaged in sexual acts. In the fall of the same year, he called B's younger sister C (then 14 years old) to the office and forcibly kissed her, among other acts of molestation.

The sexual harassment by A continued the following year. In 2009, A called C to the office, forcibly showed her his genitals, and touched C's chest while she was playing the piano at the church.

The sisters did not report the crimes to the police at the time, but in 2019, ten years later, after seeing A with their eldest sister, their trauma resurfaced, leading them to file a complaint against A.

A denied the charges and instead claimed that the B sisters were heretics. However, the court did not accept A's claims, stating that the victims' testimonies were consistent regarding the crime scene structure, methods of molestation, and A's words and actions before and after the crimes.

The victims testified that A said during the crimes, "Joshua was Moses's loyal servant, so Moses could show and give everything. You should also be my loyal servant. Like Moses, I can show you everything." The victims also said that A gave them 10,000 won after the crimes.

The court judged that these testimonies were detailed and highly credible.

Besides the crimes against the B sisters, A was previously tried and sentenced to two years and six months in prison with a three-year probation for sexually harassing an 11-year-old child attending the children's center in 2012.

Meanwhile, both A and the prosecution appealed the first trial verdict in this case.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.