GCHRC Leads International Demand to Shut Down the Christian Council of Korea (CCK)

ANAHEIM, Calif., Feb. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 1000 protesters gathered in Anaheim, CA to call for an end to a South Korean organization of Christian pastors, where a young woman died through a dangerous practice of religious conversion. Although this crime, and many like it, took place in South Korea, protesters worry America is next.

24 year old Gu Ji In was killed during a coercive conversion program last year. Despite how dangerous this program is, it continues to run and is now advertised by Christian megachurches in California, who publicizes this program on their websites. The protesters are a part of the Global Citizens Human Rights Coalition (GCHRC), an organization originally formed by friends and families of victims like Gu Ji In, that claim the CCK has gone too far and implore the help of the US and South Korean governments to shut it down.

Coercive conversion is a practice where the CCK instructs family members to forcibly bind up, drug, and kidnap their loved ones (often of minority religious faith backgrounds) to bring them to a confined location where a pastor will then verbally berate the detainee until they give up their religious preference.

Protests, which are now worldwide, started in South Korea, January 27th, with 30,000 people gathered in Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul, and they now continue in California and around the world and include 100 organizations like the International Women's Peace and Human Rights Committee, the Christian Association for Anti-Corruption National Movement, the IPYG Youth's Human Rights Committee, and the World Buddhist Summit.

In addition to the CCK's involvement in coercive conversion, the Coalition is calling to light the CCK's wrongdoings. These include 1.) during the period of Japanese Imperialism, Presbyterian churches of Korea supported the dictatorship and worshiped Japanese shrine gods, 2.) 12,000 pastors affiliated with the organization were convicted and found guilty of crimes of murder, harassment, and fraud, 3.) the organization created and distributed falsified news 4.) elections for the organization's chairman and pastoral positions are swayed by financial influence.

"The CCK's wrongdoings has defiled the purpose of Christian faith," said GCHRC member Stephen Acousto. "If they are not shutdown, they will also influence Korean-American and other American churches who work together with them."

The Coalition urges South Korean President Moon Jae-In and the South Korean government to listen to its citizens and protect human rights by banning the conversion programs and disbanding the CCK.

To learn how you can help support the cause, please visit http://endcoerciveconversion.org/.

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SOURCE Global Citizens Human Rights Coalition