On the evening of August 5, an emergency call reported that a child at a church in Cheonan was unresponsive due to a high fever and exhaustion. The child was rushed to the hospital but ultimately passed away.
The deceased child was 11-year-old Mideum. However, signs of binding were found on his wrists and ankles, and bruises of various ages and causes were discovered all over his body, raising suspicions of abuse. Furthermore, Mideum, who was wearing an adult diaper, died from multiple organ failure.
It was revealed that two days before his death, Mideum had gone to a nearby restaurant covered in bruises to beg for food, leading to a suspected child abuse report to the police. Even prior to that, the child had asked an adult shopping at a convenience store to take him to a police box. However, he was repeatedly sent back to the church and ultimately ended up dying.
In response, the police arrested the church pastor, whom the child usually called mom, and the maternal grandmother who left the child at the church on charges of child abuse resulting in death.
However, the pastor's husband expressed unfairness, claiming that the pastor was being witch-hunted. Some church members also took the pastor's side, stating, "We had no choice because the child had a severe disability."
Yet, there were other opinions. Another church member stated that Mideum's disability was not that severe. They also revealed that before Mideum's death, the pastor had criticized him by claiming he was "possessed by an evil spirit."
Church members, who were revealed to live communally, remained tight-lipped, saying they could not say anything despite being at the scene.
The pastor's son-in-law said, "From the pastor's perspective, there is a lot of unfairness," while the assistant pastor stated, "If the pastor made any mistakes, that is wrong, but the past 11 years and 8 months must not be distorted," shifting the blame by claiming the trouble started with taking in Mideum's birth mother who had nowhere else to go.
He added that Mideum received care from all church members. However, he claimed that after Mideum's maternal grandmother secretly took the child home to meet his birth mother and revealed the secret of his birth, he began acting strangely and causing problems.
Because of this, Mideum was reportedly hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital for over a year. He also claimed that the reason the child was bound was because of running away rather than escaping, stating, "He ran away 20 to 30 times because he wanted to steal something to eat. And the maternal grandmother repeatedly said she did not want to raise the child. The grandmother probably did the binding. The pastor is not the one who would tie someone up."
However, the maternal grandmother's stance was different. At first, she claimed everything was her fault, but as various other pieces of evidence came to light, she revealed the truth: everything was the pastor's decision.
Struggling while raising multiple children alone, Mideum's maternal grandmother felt deeply grateful that the pastor agreed to take care of Mideum, and she consequently moved her home near the church and devoted herself to the church and the pastor.
Working two jobs, she handed over 1.05 million won per month in childcare fees to the pastor and took charge of all kinds of chores at the church. However, the pastor filled her sermons with criticism about Mideum, had church members discipline the child, and made the child say that the grandmother was the one who disciplined him.
The grandmother was instructed by the pastor to bind the child and could not say anything about the pastor's violence toward the child, which was presumed to be the result of long-term gaslighting.
Soo-jung, who had been attending the church run by Pastor Kwak since the fifth grade of elementary school, came to live at the church after her parents divorced, and she suffered terrible things there that she never wants to remember.
Soo-jung's mother, who was attending Pastor Kwak's theological school, was frequently assaulted by church members, and when she resisted, the assaults extended to Soo-jung and her younger sibling. Like Mideum, she became the target of criticism in sermons and was attacked.
Church members tortured the mother in front of Soo-jung and her sister. They repeatedly struck her genital area, made her drink urine, and pulled her tongue while beating her to prevent her from speaking out.
In response, Soo-jung's mother revealed the traces of the assault still remaining on her body. Soo-jung's mother worked unpaid at a restaurant run by the pastor at the time and handed over all her basic livelihood subsidies. Unable to endure the constant surveillance by church members, the mother attempted an escape, and with the help of relatives, Soo-jung and her sister were also able to escape.
There was a reason they could not report the pastor at the time. Soo-jung's aunt, who was a church member then, and her children were among the perpetrators who assaulted and harassed Soo-jung's family.
A former church member said about Pastor Kwak's church, "There was no boundary between the perpetrator and the victim." Furthermore, Pastor Kwak told some young members that they had received the mission of the 12 disciples, making them drop out of school and undergo her training.
However, this training was not to become pastors, but to create a combat squad to catch ghosts. Many church members were in life-threatening danger due to this violence.
The former member stated that because they had all lynched one another, they could not report the pastor, adding that Pastor Kwak habitually abused children from broken homes whom she took in to raise. They also stated that it was undoubtedly Pastor Kwak who made the maternal grandmother beat Mideum.
Pastor Kwak was suspected of going to great lengths to obtain prescriptions for more medication than necessary for Mideum and to have him classified with a disability grade. Ultimately, by securing a disability grade, Pastor Kwak obtained compulsory education exemption approval for reasons such as illness, thereby separating the child from school.
Experts stated that Mideum's behaviors were typical of child abuse syndrome and that even his fixation on food was a trace of abuse. They also noted that suffering abuse inevitably lowers measured intelligence, meaning the child likely did not have major issues with his intelligence.
A religion expert remarked, "I suspect that protecting children was used as a means to showcase the church's public credibility or religiosity. It seems she viewed Mideum like an accessory to receive admiration and praise for herself."
A crime expert evaluated, "Mideum played the role of a black sheep and a scapegoat within the church. Furthermore, the abuse inflicted on Mideum has been used as an example to deter other church members, clearly showing that the members of this church are in a state of psychological subordination to the pastor."
Pastor Kwak has now been forwarded to prosecutors on charges of child abuse resulting in death. The prosecution reportedly made this decision because they judged there was no intent to murder.
However, a forensic expert stated, "Ordinary people know that binding a child for 30 hours in such a situation can lead to death. Moreover, they tried to resolve the situation themselves, resulting in a belated report, and this aspect also raises suspicion of intent to murder."
Additionally, a religion expert raised their voice, drawing attention by stating that crimes occurring within churches "must be subject to severe aggravated punishment."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.