Targeting of Religious Leaders in South Korea: Long Pre-Trial Detention Risks Social Exclusion of Religion
South Korea is seeing specific religious leaders and pastors subjected to prolonged pre-trial detention and aggressive raids on churches.
Key Cases (no final convictions yet):
- Pastor Son Hyun-bo (Segero Church, Busan):
Detained since Sept 8, 2025; held for about 5 months (143 days); released early 2026 with suspended sentence.
- Dr. Hak Ja Han (Unification Church):
Detained since Sept 22, 2025 (age 83); held for more than 290 days (over 9.5 months) with several temporary medical releases.
- Lee Man-hee (Shincheonji):
Detained since June 24, 2026 (age 95); held for ~17 days so far.
In addition, many churches and pastors — including Yoido Full Gospel Church — faced aggressive raids and questioning over their political statements and controversial May 18-related remarks.
These forceful searches by special prosecutors under the Lee Jae-myung administration risk fostering the view that "religion itself is the problem in society and we don’t need it to live."
We need to bring attention to the targeting of religious leaders.