A South Korean cult has been accused of recruiting vulnerable young Australian women at shopping centres to be brainwashed and then sent abroad.
The victims were told they were the ‘spiritual brides’ of Jung Myung Seok (JMS), the self-proclaimed second coming of Jesus Christ and messiah of the Providence church he founded in 1978.
But JMS is a convicted rapist and the women were sent to his Wolmyeongdong compound not for any spiritual reasons, but to allegedly be sexually assaulted.
The recruiters are reportedly told to find tall, slim white women for JMS, and two Australian survivors, Liz and Amy (not their real names) have spoken out to warn others to be aware they could be targeted too.
Amy was recruited while on her way to meet a friend to go bowling at Melbourne Central shopping centre, she told Channel 7’s Spotlight program.
‘All of a sudden, somebody tapped me on my shoulder, I turned around and two girls were smiling at me … they asked me to do a survey about my faith,’ she said.
A depraved South Korean cult has been exposed as recruiting vulnerable young Australian women at shopping centres to be brainwashed and then sent abroad. Survivor Amy is pictured
Amy was 22 at that time in 2014 and had a growing interest in Christianity. The chance encounter would change her life for the worst.
‘I believed that this was a almost an elevated version of Christianity because that’s how they pitched it to me,’ she said.
Liz had just finished Year 12 when she was approached at the Canberra Centre and thought it ‘sounded really fun and exciting’.
‘I was on a gap year, so I was looking to travel, I was working part-time, and I was also thinking about what I was going do with my life.
‘I was in a really good position to be susceptible to psychological coercion, and they definitely took advantage of that.’
The young women attended bible study classes and lecturers and eventually moved into cult houses in Australia, where their lives were strictly controlled, including getting up at 2am every day to pray to JMS.
In time, their physical and mental resistance was worn away and the people they thought of as friends told them they were ‘faith stars’.
Liz (pictured) had just finished Year 12 when she was approached at the Canberra Centre and thought it ‘sounded really fun and exciting’
The phrase was a cover for the prettiest, tallest, most obedient women being brainwashed into believing they are brides of God, and therefore brides of JMS.
‘It was never explained to us that that was what JMS wanted because he was sexually deviant and psychopathic,’ said Liz. ‘The guy is just a sick twisted predator.’
While they were still in Australia, JMS was serving a 10-year sentence for sexual violence against four Providence members after being convicted of rape in 2008.
Liz and Amy travelled to Korea to meet him in jail.
‘(We were told) him being in prison for 10 years wasn’t because he raped women, it’s because he is saving all of mankind’s souls,’ Amy said.
‘It made sense to me. Unfortunately, it really did.’
Liz said there was only plexiglass between them as they sat across from him in the jail.
‘He came in, in just a prison jumpsuit, smiled at us, blew kisses,’ she said. ‘I feel sick thinking about it.’
Looking back, Liz said she was ‘absolutely being groomed to be assaulted, molested, raped by him’.
Jung Myung Seok (pictured) is a convicted rapist who was sentenced to 10 years in jail
Women were sent to the Wolmyeongdong compound (pictured) not for any spiritual reasons, but to allegedly be sexually assaulted by Jung Myung Seok
Back in Australia, Liz was able to escape from Providence’s clutches with the help of her mum and a cult deprogrammer who staged an intervention.
But Amy wasn’t so lucky.
She went back to South Korea and stayed at the Wolmyeongdong compound, where JMS was then living, after being released from prison.
Amy said she was sexually assaulted by JMS on five occasions.
At one point she was told to go into a room with him, where there was a translator present.
She was told that she should take her clothes off and he would dress her, she said.
‘After he dressed me, he went and sat down on a chair and asked me to stand in front of him and began speaking to me.
‘And at that … moment he just lifted up my skirt and put his hands into my underwear.
‘And for that whole five minutes he was just talking to me … touching me,’ she said.
Amy was shocked and reported what happened to a female Providence leader.
Liz is pictured in South Korea in 2011, when she went to visit Jung in prison at the organisation’s request
She told the young Australian that JMS was her husband. ‘Can’t the husband do that kinda thing to their wife?
‘It’s the same here, you’re the bride, you should be thankful, it’s your blessing,’ the woman allegedly said to Amy.
Last year, Amy and another alleged victim from Hong Kong who recorded harrowing audio of her alleged rape made allegations about JMS public.
He is now back in jail and awaiting trial on 22 counts of indecent and sexual assault.
More victims have also come forward and some of the alleged, female groomers are also facing charges.
Amy said she was threatened when she went public with her allegations against JMS.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the church for comment.
The national domestic, family and sexual violence counselling, information and support service can be contacted at 1800RESPECT – 1800 737 732
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