South Korean cult Grace Road Church members arrested in Fiji

In Fiji, four alleged high-ranking members of a North Korean doomsday cult have been detained.

A legitimate injunction prevented the other two from being expelled, according to a Fijian press report.

After 400 of its people relocated to Fiji in 2014, claiming they would be protected from impending natural disaster, The Grace Road Church gained notoriety.

Shin Ok-ju, the organization’s father, was imprisoned in 2019 for kidnapping followers in Fiji and abusing them.

After moving to Fiji, the Church has established a firm kingdom.

In addition to accusations of abuse, it denies being a religion.

People who were able to transfer to South Korea, however, have charged Ms. Shin with seizing and holding their passports against their will.

They claim that the Church employs forced labor and administers severe custom beatings that result in the death of one of its adherents.

Those on Fiji’s exile list have been wanted by the international police organization Interpol since 2018, and South Korea has issued an international arrest warrant.

Byeong Joon Lee and Beomseop Shin, two people who were detained in Fiji, have been brought back, according to Pio Tikoduadu, the country’s minister of foreign affairs, who made the announcement on Wednesday.

A High Court buy prevented the deportation of two additional members, including the team’s acting president Sung Jin Lee, who were later freed.

Daniel Kim, the Church’s acting top chairman and president of its business interests, is one of the two people still at large. He is the Church’s founding father.

The country’s previous government, which was overthrown in the general election in December, was accused of ignoring calling to arrest the members of Grace Road Church, according to Mr. Tikoduadu, who described the allegations of abuse against them as a” long pending matter.”

The businesses of Grace Road Church in Fiji, which go by the moniker of” Grace Road Group ,” are diverse, ranging from construction to restaurants to agriculture, with labor supplied by members of the Church’s congregation.

Past Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama can be seen with Daniel Kim in a picture that was posted on the organization’s website at the 2017 Business Excellence Awards ceremony.