More Bodies of Religious Group Y Found

As the prosecutors` investigation on the followers of a religious organization known as ‘Y’ who were missing for 10years goes on, it was revealed that they were killed and buried, and along with the investigation, the hidden truth of the group started to emerge.

The section in charge of crimes of violence at the Suwon district public prosecutor’s office (superintendent public prosecutor Lee, Kyung-jae) dug up a body from the peak of a mountain in Jeongeup, North Jella Province on Aug.17. The body is suspected to be Ms. Park (58 years-old when missing, female) who has been missing since 1990.

The prosecutors announced, “Ms. Park used to work as a district chief of this religious group, but for enticing some followers away to Mr. Y who created his own religious group in Incheon, she is known to have been beaten to death.”

At around 4:30 in the afternoon, the prosecutors found a body after digging for 2m in the woods 10m away from the road on the peak of the mountain after working with around 30 police officers and an excavator.

The body was wrapped in a black sack, and clothes or any other articles of the person were not found.

With this excavation, among the 10 missing followers of the group, the number of people certified to be dead has increased to 3, including So Moon-jong (missing in 1986, 25 years old at that time and certified killed in 1995) and Mr. Chi (missing since 1990 at age 35) whose body was found on Aug. 14.

The prosecutors said, “The missing followers have been found to be killed,” and went on to say, “Most of the other missing people are very likely to have been murdered as well.”

The prosecutors are planning to put a double effort into digging up the site, where the detained Mr. Kim (66) has pointed out as the place where he had buried the other bodies.

Also, with the testimony from Mr. Kim that around 10 people are involved in the murder, the prosecutors will restrict them from leaving the country.

Before this, on Aug.16, the prosecutors asked for a warrant on the founder of the religious group Mr. Cho (72) for instigation, and on Aug.17 an investigation on warrant was held at the Suwon District Court.

According to the prosecutors, Mr. Cho ordered 3 people including the detained Mr. Kim to strangle and kill Mr. Chi at a house in Mok-dong, Seoul on Aug. 1990, and to bury him in Kumkwang Reservoir in Anseong, Gyeonggi, for keep asking for money.

The prosecutors also arrested Mr. Cho (55) on suspicion of killing Mr. Chi with an order from their leader Mr. Cho, together with Mr. Kim who has already been arrested.

Meanwhile, around 300 followers staged a sit-in demonstration in front of the Suwon district public prosecutor’s office, arguing the innocence of their leader Mr. Cho.

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