Hundreds of Protesters Call on South Korean Government to Shutdown Abusive Religious Conversion Programs

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, over 500 protesters gathered at the Los Angeles South Korean Consulate to demand the South Korean government to end all coercive conversion programs. The protests were held simultaneously worldwide in the major cities of Gwangju, South Korea, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., in the United States, as well as in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Baja Mexico.

The rally was also the one-year commemoration of the death of Gu Ji-in, hosted by the Human Rights Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs (HAC). Gu died at 25 on Jan. 9, 2018, as a result of cardiopulmonary arrest after her parents forced her to receive coercive conversion from pastors.

Gu underwent forced "conversion therapy" in 2016 after her family kidnapped her to a monastery where she was confined for 44 days.

"I realized that it would be difficult to escape as there were high barbed-wire fences outside the windows," said Gu in her first official statement. Gu was forced to sign papers that falsely stated she had come to the conversion counseling center at her own will, and she later petitioned the South Korean government in June 2017 to investigate and close down all such centers. The government hasn't responded.

On Dec. 29, 2017, Gu was kidnapped again, resulting in her death. This sparked international protests and more than a million signatures to ban all coercive conversion programs.

Conversion counselors, who make large profits from each session, begin by inducing fear and manipulating family members to believe that their loved one must be converted. If the victim refuses to enroll in the program, counselors encourage the use of sleeping pills, handcuffs, duct tape, cell phone confiscation and even nailing doors shut to restrain the victim.

HAC continues to raise awareness in support of victims. Because coercive conversions take place in the presence of family members, it is almost impossible for victims to receive help as authorities will often ignore these cases as "family matters."

"South Korea is a country established on the value of freedom," said HAC volunteer Tracey Cheng "we won't stop our work until all coercive conversions are banned and religious freedom is safeguarded."

Since the news of Gu's death, 147 victims of coercive conversions have come forward within the last year.

CONTACT
Los Angeles HAC
[email protected] | 213-973-2843
Human Rights Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs (HAC)

SOURCE Human Rights Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs