3,000 Pastors Worldwide: “Religious Freedom in South Korea in Crisis — Stop the Trial by Public Opinion and Release the 95-Year-Old Leader”

– 1st Joint Assembly of World Pastors held on the 13th — co-hosted by seven Christian organizations from Korea and abroad
– Overseas pastors from Russia, Africa and elsewhere present in person: “The detention of Shincheonji Chairman Lee Man-hee is a trial by public opinion and a human-rights violation”
– From the debate over dissolving religious corporations to Japan’s Unification Church case: “This is not the problem of one denomination or one nation”
– “We will unite across borders to protect the universal freedom of religion that transcends any single denomination”

DALLAS, TX, August 19, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ — On the 13th, seven religious organizations — including the Council for Christian Mutual Growth, the Korea Christian Leaders Training Institute, the Pastors Alliance for Life and Human Rights, the Russian Evangelical Alliance, and the Thai Evangelical Alliance Association — held the “1st Joint Assembly of World Pastors” and sharply criticized the violations of religious freedom and the undermining of the principle of separation of church and state now taking place in the Republic of Korea. Some 3,000 pastors from major countries around the world attended online and offline.

At this assembly, not only Korean presenters but also overseas pastors from countries such as Russia and Zambia took the podium themselves, examining from an international perspective the reality of religious freedom under threat beyond any single denomination or nation. The presenters spoke with one voice: “What is happening in the Republic of Korea today is not the problem of one denomination or one country.”

◇ “Dissolving a religious corporation is not the problem of one denomination or one nation” — a warning drawn from Japan’s Unification Church case

The first presenter, Rev. Im Young-woong, senior pastor of Saehimang (New Hope) Church of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, raised the dangers of the debate over dissolving religious corporations in an international context. Rev. Im Young-woong asked, “If the state can dissolve a single religious organization, exactly how far should that standard reach — and who can guarantee that the standard created today will not be applied to another church tomorrow?”

Citing the case in which the Tokyo District Court issued a dissolution order in March 2025 against the former Unification Church (the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) and the Supreme Court of Japan finalized it in June 2026, he explained, “What was dissolved in Japan was not the faith itself but its legal status as a religious corporation; yet the practical impact on the religious community — loss of tax benefits, liquidation of assets and more — is by no means small.”

Rev. Im Young-woong then pointed to Article 38 of Korea’s Civil Act, which allows a corporation’s establishment permit to be revoked for “acts that harm the public interest,” calling it the core problem: “Who decides what harms the public interest, and by what standard?” Citing the 2020 case in which, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seoul Metropolitan Government revoked the establishment permit of an incorporated association linked to Shincheonji and also began revocation proceedings against HWPL, as well as the December 2025 case in which the President, referring to Japan’s Unification Church dissolution at a Cabinet meeting, ordered a review of the possibility of dissolving domestic religious organizations, he warned that “our concerns are becoming reality.”

Rev. Im Young-woong stressed, “If there are allegations, they must be investigated, and if a crime is proven, one must be held accountable. But investigating an individual’s criminal allegations and making an entire religious community of hundreds of thousands of members a target for survival-or-dissolution are matters on entirely different levels,” adding, “The most dangerous thing is that it is not objective criminal facts but ‘social unpopularity’ that operates as grounds for dissolution. If we tolerate this logic today because it targets a religion we dislike, there is no guarantee the same logic will not be applied to our own church tomorrow.” He further invoked Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): “Religious freedom must not vary according to whether a religion is old or new, a majority or a minority, or socially popular or condemned.”

◇ “Public opinion cannot be a verdict” — the Russian Evangelical Alliance calls for judicial neutrality

Rev. Vitaly Kirillovich Vlasenko, General Secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance, presented on the theme “Public opinion cannot be a verdict.” He said, “Is it truly just that the legal standard applied to a religion and its leader should change simply because that religion has become an object of social hatred?” and, “The fact that hundreds of thousands condemn someone and that countless media reports follow cannot justify declaring a person guilty before the court has even handed down its judgment.”

General Secretary Vlasenko stressed, “The stronger the social pressure, the more fair and neutral the trial must be; and the stronger the religious hostility, the more strictly the state must supervise whether the law and due process are being observed.” Referring to the situation in 2020 when Shincheonji was linked to the spread of COVID-19 in Daegu and a national petition demanding its forced dissolution surpassed 500,000 signatures within two days and later exceeded one million, he said, “An atmosphere formed as if society had already handed down its verdict before the court had even held a trial.”

He continued, “Yet the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea ultimately acquitted Chairman Lee Man-hee of the charge of violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, while upholding guilty verdicts on some other charges,” and, “A court is not an institution that judges a person wholesale as a ‘good person’ or a ‘bad person’; it is a place that examines the evidence for each specific charge and distinguishes guilt from innocence. Herein lies the essential difference between public opinion and judicial judgment.” Turning to the current situation in which Chairman Lee Man-hee has again been detained on charges of violating the Political Parties Act, he urged, “Whether or not one agrees with the doctrine, the legal standard must be applied equally to everyone.”

◇ “The detention of a 95-year-old leader is a humanitarian issue” — an appeal from a Zambian prison-ministry servant

Bishop Elias Elijah Changa, founder and president of the Zambia-based Missionary Ambassadors for Global Evangelism (MAGE) in Lusaka, raised the questions of due process and human dignity based on his prison-ministry experience. He opened, “The administration of justice and the protection of human dignity must go together.”

Rev. Changa said, “Acknowledging that Chairman Lee Man-hee has long worked for peace-building and interfaith dialogue through HWPL’s international activities means neither innocence nor exemption from the law,” but added, “The judgment concerning him must be made by the courts on the basis of law and evidence alone, and disagreement over his beliefs must not determine how he is treated.”

In particular, through his prison ministry he said he had confirmed that “detention causes especially serious and harsh hardship for the elderly,” and asked, “Age gives no one the right to stand above the law, but to protect life and humanity, I ask the competent authorities to carefully consider lawful alternatives such as bail, residence restriction, or medical accommodation.” He stated, “We are not demanding that Chairman Lee Man-hee receive special treatment because he is a religious leader; we are asking that the fairness, dignity, and universal rights owed to everyone be extended equally to him.”

The assembly closed with the announcement of a “Joint Statement” adopted with the signatures of Christian leaders from around the world. The statement set out demands that
▲ the government and political circles immediately cease using specific religions, including Shincheonji, as tools of political strife and suppression in violation of the principle of separation of church and state, and fully guarantee universal religious freedom;
▲ the judiciary halt trials by public opinion and witch hunts and uphold the presumption of innocence for the very elderly religious leader; and
▲ the court grant the bail request of the very elderly leader, whose life is under threat, and release him immediately.

The organizers stated, “The cases presented here are not the problem of one denomination alone but a grave warning signal spanning religious freedom in the Republic of Korea as a whole,” and, “Until the government and judicial authorities return to fair justice and the principle of separation of church and state, we will continue our response in solidarity with international human-rights organizations and the churches of the world.”

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