Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea
Connected to a mass suicide, the deaths of hundreds of children, and various financial schemes, yet the leader avoided prosecution thanks to his devoted followers
1962 - present
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"We hope Yoo [leader] doesn't get arrested. A 100,000 followers will protect Yoo. Even if the entire congregation of 100,000 believers is arrested, we won't hand him over."-Church Spokesperson
The Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea has been connected to multiple atrocities, including the deaths of hundreds of children.
In 2014, 250 children were on board a sinking South Korean ferry. Trusting in the officials who told them to stay in place, they seemed unconcerned and filmed themselves joking around. However, as the children were waiting to be rescued, the captain and crew abandoned the ship, leaving the children to die. In the end, over 300 people were dead or missing, mostly children.
An investigation pointed toward Yoo Byung-eun, the founder of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea, who had previously been convicted of "habitual fraud under the mask of religion" and is also believed to have been connected to a mass suicide decades earlier. Like the mass suicide, the ferry's sinking also seemed to have been the direct result of Yoo's various financial schemes, which made him rich at the expense of church members and others.
However, even with a worldwide manhunt, Yoo escaped prosecution thanks to his followers, who went to great lengths to keep him hidden until he died. Today, the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea carries on with tens of thousands of members.
Religion: Christianity
Denomination: Other
Founder: Yoo Byung-eun
Founded: 1962
Location: South Korea
Size: 20,000
Also called: Evangelical Baptist Church; Korean Evangelical Baptist Church (기독교복음침례회); Korean Evangelical Layman's Church; Salvation Sect
Offshoots: Paradise (Park Soon-ja )
Yoo Byung-eun served a four-year prison sentence for defrauding members out of over a million dollars (source)
Members of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea were sold items at highly inflated prices (source)
Non-members who worked at the founder's companies were required to join the church to receive promotions (source)
Prosecutors suspect that the sinking of the ferry was caused by the Yoo Byung-eun illicit handling of money for personal gain (source)
Financial misconduct related to the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea and Yoo Byung-eun is believed to be responsible for the sinking of the Sewol ferry, which resulted in over 300 passengers, mostly children, either dead or missing (source)
On August 29, 1987, 32 people were found dead in a mass suicide connected to the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea (source)
When authorities tried to find the Yoo Byung-eun in the compound, members prevented them from doing so, and some declared that they were willing to be martyred by the leader (source)
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Footage from the inside of the sinking of the Sewol ferry (WARNING: this video contains disturbing imagery)
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