"Some Religion Followers Kill and Bury Their Fellows"

The prosecutors are carrying out an investigation by digging out a dead body, on the suspicion that some followers of a religious group killed their fellows by the order from the founder of the religion.

The section in charge of the crimes of violence at the Suwon district public prosecutor`s office(superintendent public prosecutor Lee, Kyung-jae) announced that it had immediately arrested the followers of religious organization “Y”, Mr.Kim and Mr.Chung(44) on a charge of murder on Oct. 13, and also on Oct.14, arrested the founder of the organization Mr. Cho(72) for instigation at Kimpo Airport, who was on the way to Busan to give a lecture.

The prosecutors announced, “we secured the testimony from Mr.Kim that they killed Mr.Chi, who was missing from Oct. 1990, and buried him at a mountain near Kumkwang Reservoir in Kumkwang, Ansung. We have collected the body and are currently checking the identity of the body.”

The prosecutors also added “we`ve got the testimony that another follower Mr.Chun was also killed and buried at a mountain that is about 100m away from the one where Mr.Chi is buried in 1992, so we are digging up the site,” and went on to say, “we have other testimonies that more followers were killed and buried across the country, so we are currently carrying out some investigations.”

The prosecutors investigated the cases of missing person among some followers of the group and could not find out the whereabouts of 9 people so far. The prosecutors are suspecting that some of them could have been killed as well.

For a decade, there have been constant reports that dozens of its followers were missing or have been killed, so from1994 the prosecutors carried out investigations but so far found out only that in 1996, its follower So, Moon-jong was killed by others.

The founder Mr.Cho was in prison for 6 years for cash fraud in January 1994, and was released in Oct. 2000 after finishing his terms. Yet, his role in instigating the murder has not been proven.

Considering the scale of the case, the prosecutors are suspecting there will be more people related to the case other than the 3 who are already arrested, and are expanding the investigating.

The prosecutors said, “We got on to the investigation with a report from one follower who could not bear the pressure of the religious group,” and added, “Mr.Chi and others are presumed to have been killed for not following the religious doctrine.”

bibulus@donga.com