CultNEWS101 Articles: 1/19/2026

[Patrick Ryan]

Legal, Korea, Unification Church, Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Papa Freddie, Coercive Control

Korea Times: President agrees on religious leaders’ call for disbanding Unification Church, Shincheonji

"President Lee Jae Myung voiced his agreement with religious leaders’ calls to disband the Unification Church, the Shincheonji Church of Jesus and other “illegitimate, heretical religious organizations” during a meeting with leaders representing major religious communities here, Monday.

According to presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung, the leaders of seven major religious communities including Buddhism, Protestantism and Catholicism expressed their concerns on “the serious harms caused by illegitimate, heretical religious organizations including the Unification Church and Shincheonji,” during the meeting.

“Such practices, including collusion between politics and religion, cause serious harm to people’s lives, and must be dealt with strictly,” the leaders were quoted as saying.

Kang said the religious leaders urged the president that the public would support disbanding religious groups that harm the people and the country, and called for their assets to be used to compensate their victims.

In response, Lee voiced his agreement. “This is a difficult issue, but the harm these groups have inflicted on our society has been left unchecked for far too long and has become severe,” he said according to the spokesperson.

The comments came amid ongoing investigations on various bribery allegations among politicians, the Unification Church and Shincheonji. The Unification Church has faced allegations of bribing politicians and intervening in party primaries and public elections. Shincheonji has been accused of mobilizing its followers to join the People Power Party ahead of the 2022 presidential election in an effort to influence its primary process.

Last week, the prosecution and police formed a joint investigation team to look into the allegations, while the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is now conducting reviews on legal requirements for disbanding the Unification Church."

BBC: The Million Pound Shaman Scam

"In 2008, veteran Sunday Times journalist Tim Rayment received a tip about an incredibly bizarre crime. The tale: an elite London community ensnared in a dark web of spiritual manipulation, South American shamanism and millions of pounds in 'sacrificial offerings'.

At the centre of it all are a charming healer, a secretive woman and an invisible man named Papa Freddie. And the deeper Tim digs, the stranger it gets."

Amaliah: What Is Coercive Control and How to Spot It?

"Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse that involves controlling, isolating, and intimidating a partner or family member to maintain power over them. This can include isolating them from family and friends, depriving victims of basic needs such as food, and monitoring their behaviour. Some charities, such as Amina Scotland, reported that victims even had their access to contraception controlled and had to ask permission to wash and brush their teeth.

It also happens to be one of the most hidden and misunderstood aspects of domestic abuse – and this is often exacerbated by societal norms within patriarchal cultures that push victims into silence and acceptance.

The charity Women’s Aid has described coercive control as being bound by “invisible chains,” which feels like an apt description both of the campaign of controlling and belittling that victims face, but also the way they are forced to become dependent on the perpetrator, who chips away at their self-esteem and independence over time. Victims can feel bound to their abusers’ whims and are often gaslit into thinking that they somehow deserved the abuse.

Of course, behaviour like this has been inflicted upon women since time immemorial, but it is not just us as a society that has been slow to tackle this widespread issue; the law is far behind as well. Despite it being only 10 years since the UK criminalised this form of abuse under the Serious Crime Act 2015, with a maximum sentence of five years, it was surprisingly one of the first countries in the world to do so."

" ... While coercive control occurs in all communities, in some patriarchal cultures, there is a cultural gaslighting that takes place where coercive control is not seen as abuse, but rather normalised and enabled by community expectations. In fact, tolerating it is seen as a badge of honour and a sign of being an obedient and pious wife. There is also sometimes the attitude that if the abuse is not physical or sexual, it is not real abuse – reinforcing the silence and secrecy under which many victims are forced to suffer. "

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