Press Conference – Freedom of Religion or Belief in the Republic of Korea

I am speaking today as President of CAP Liberté de Conscience. For more than thirty years, our organization has defended religious minorities protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international conventions. With ECOSOC consultative status at the United Nations, CAP LC conducts its advocacy here, at the Human Rights Council, the OSCE and European institutions. We speak for all faiths and none, because freedom of religion or belief is not a privilege; it is a universal right.

CAP LC is increasingly concerned by the deterioration of freedom of religion or belief in the Republic of Korea. This is not a sudden crisis; it is a steady erosion. In February 2025, we submitted a written statement to the 58th session of this Council documenting the arbitrary cancellation of a Shincheonji religious event at Imjingak Peace Park after conservative groups lobbied the authorities. In November 2024, we joined an open letter to the President of Korea protesting that decision. At the 61st session, we returned with a written statement condemning the threatened dissolution of Shincheonji and other minority groups labeled as “pseudo-religions.” These actions violate Article 18 of the ICCPR by allowing the state to act as a theological arbiter.

The United Nations has repeatedly reminded Korea that its domestic laws must align with the treaties it has ratified. The 2011 report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression urged Seoul to abolish vague provisions such as article 7 of the National Security Act and to remove criminal defamation from its penal code. As a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Korea is bound to ensure that any restriction on fundamental rights is prescribed by law, necessary and proportionate.

At the 62nd session, CAP LC delivered an oral statement on the situation of the Unification Church and a written statement on the escalating transnational discrimination against Shincheonji. That document records a joint police-prosecutor task force created in December 2025 that has summoned more than sixty individuals, reopened closed cases, and publicly branded the community a “criminal organization.” It notes the disproportionate COVID-19 closures that caused over 5.8 billion KRW in losses, the last-minute cancellation of the Imjingak event, and documented cases of coercive de-conversion, including one death in 2025.

For the upcoming 63rd session, CAP LC has just filed a new written statement on the detention of Chairman Lee Man-hee, the ninety-five-year-old leader of Shincheonji. He remains in custody for non-violent allegations related to political participation by members of his church. The Minister of Justice has publicly called him a “false prophet” and declared his punishment “inevitable” while investigations were still ongoing. This undermines the presumption of innocence. We urge the Korean Government to review the necessity of detaining a frail elderly man, to ensure judicial impartiality, and to base any legislative measure on accurate information and on the international standards enshrined in the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention.

Thirty years of advocacy have taught us that silence is the ally of injustice. We are not here to lecture. We are here to ask, with respect, the questions that any democracy should be able to answer. Why is a frail ninety-five-year-old man still in detention? Why can a church be dissolved on the strength of media campaigns? Why is taking part in public life a crime for some believers and not for others? Thank you.