South Korean cult pastor Lee Jaerock jailed for raping followers

Megachurch’s website claims 75-year-old can cure Aids and change the weather

South Korean pastor Lee Jaerock arrives at the Seoul Central District Court to attend his trial in Seoul on 22 November (AFP/Getty)

A South Korean megachurch pastor whose followers believed he was a divine being has been jailed for raping and molesting eight women “tens of times” over a 14-year period, according to reports.

Lee Jaerock, who claimed to be able to heal disability, change the weather and cure Aids, suggested to his 130,000 congregants that he was a godly being, and his victims felt unable to resist.

Now the 75-year-old has been jailed for 15 years after a court in Seoul found him guilty of multiple rapes of eight female followers.

Judge Chung Moon-sung told the Seoul Central District Court that Lee’s victims were “unable to resist as they were subject to the accused’s absolute religious authority”, the BBC reported.

The Manmin Central Church leader had denied the charges, but the judge added that “through his sermons the accused has indirectly or directly suggested he is the holy spirit, deifying himself”.

Lee closed his eyes as the judgment was read, according to the BBC.

His lawyers had accused his victims of seeking revenge after they were excommunicated.

But the New York Times reported that the cult-like leader had been followed by accusations of sexual abuse for decades. “While attending his church from an early age, the victims were led to believe that the way to heaven lay in treating the accused like God and obeying him,” it quoted Judge Chung as saying.

CNN cited a district court press release as saying Lee was known to have assaulted multiple victims at the same time.

Manmin Central Church’s website said Lee had conducted “many megasize crusades in and out of Korea to have become known as a worldwide and powerful revivalist”.

The church’s homepage features a revolving carousel attributing various miracles to prayers made there, including a blizzard ended, a back straightened and a case of dwarfism reversed.

Another page claims that “miraculous healings have been manifested wherever [Lee] conducted crusades and revivals”, including for people watching on television. It said that through prayer he had become “a pure vessel that loved God with his whole life”.

On his biography page Lee claimed to be able to burn away cancer with the holy spirit, change the climate and “call back the souls of the dead”.

The NYT reported that Lee had claimed to have been visited by people from heaven who had arrived in UFOs.

Lee’s conviction was not mentioned on the church’s “news on senior pastor” section as of Thursday morning.

The BBC reported that Manmin Central Church was considered a cult by mainstream Christian groups.

Christianity is hugely popular in South Korea, with up to 29 per cent of the population identifying with the religion.