- Chun Ki-won sexually abused five children and adolescents at a boarding school
- The school was founded by the pastor to provide shelter for escaped children
- He was originally supposed to serve thirteen years in prison, but the sentence was reduced to five years
A pedophile preacher in South Korea has been sentenced to five years in prison after sexually abusing runaway children at the boarding school he founded to protect them.
Chun Ki-won, 67, who is considered a national hero in the country for his work smuggling children out of North Korea, ran his boarding school in Seoul.
Ki-won set it up specifically to house the escaped children as part of the refugee smuggling mission he has led for the past 25 years: the Underground Railroad.
The preacher has made international headlines over the years and is known as the Asian Oskar Schindler.
Ki-won is said to have helped more than 1,000 people flee the north, including many children, and therefore founded his own school for them.
He was arrested in September.
Pedophile pastor Chun Ki-won sexually abused five young people between 2016 and 2023
American North Korean newspaper, NK newsreported that the allegations began in August.
According to police in South Korea, the pastor molested six children and adolescents between the ages of 13 and 16 between 2016 and 2023 — although one of the charges was eventually dropped.
He was expected to get 13 years, but this was reduced to just five years after prosecutors recommended a shorter term.
It is said that it is common in South Korea for children of defectors to go to boarding schools because their parents do not have the finances to care for them at home.
There may be a very good reason why Ki-won was able to get away with his crimes for so long.
Some believe that because of North Korea’s autocratic nature, where strict rules are followed and free will seems like a distant dream – and the few people sitting at the top of the towers are in complete control, real society at street level is in secretly leads a route for the pariahs. .
Similar to how in every dictatorship throughout history, large parts of the citizens have listened to their leader, but behind closed doors have admired the rule breakers much more.
This has led some to believe that these rule breakers can hide somewhat openly in the shadows and therefore get away with whatever they want, such as pedophilia.
Eric Foley of Martyrs Korea, a non-governmental organization that promotes freedom of religion in North Korea, told NK News: ‘Books, films and social media tend to glorify North Korea’s ‘lone rangers’ – guys who working in the shadows to pull off seemingly miraculous rescues single-handedly, but situations like these are painful reminders that even the most important secret work requires real relationships of responsibility.”
Those who have sought to escape the tyrannical nation over the years have done so with the help of people like Ki-won, who used underground tunnels in operations like the Underground Railroad.