Grace Road Church

After the leader convinced members to move to an island, she stole their passports, beat her followers, and forced them to work without pay

2002 - present

Shin Ok-ju (leader)

Grace Road Church is a cult founded by Shin Ok-ju in 2002 in the Christian tradition. Ok-ju convinced her followers to move with her to Fiji in 2014 to survive an upcoming apocalypse. However, when members arrived, their passports were taken away, and they had to endure physical abuse and forced labor without pay. Eventually, after four members escaped and spoke to authorities, the Korean government arrested Ok-ju and sentenced her to six years in prison. On the other hand, the Fiji government highly praised this group, leading to accusations of government corruption.

Religion: Christianity

Denomination: Other

Leader: Shin Ok-ju

Founded: 2002 in South Korea

Size: 1,000

Location: Fiji

Abusive

Leader Shin Ok-ju has been filmed violently beating a church member, which appears to be a common ritual (source)
Members are forced to work without pay and perform ritual beatings on each other (source)
A court determined that the leader has "absolute authority over the followers" (source)
In 2019, founder Ok-ju was sentenced to six years in prison for violence, child abuse, and fraud (source)
A member received lasting brain damage from the beatings by other members (source)

Anti-Medicine

In an attempt to miraculously heal a man with schizophrenia, members had him tied up with a sock taped over his mouth for ten days. As a result, the man's leg had to be amputated, and he had to be placed in a nursing home due to his poor mental condition (source)
Members have been forbidden from taking medicine and have had their medication taken away (source)

Shin Ok-ju publicly beating a church member during a service

Doomsday

In 2014, 400 followers followed leader Shin Ok-ju to Fiji to escape an apocalyptic famine (source)

Leader-Prophet

Believes the leader is a deity and has powers (source)

Murder

An elderly man died after he was beaten hundreds of times for several hours by church members (source)

Unable to Leave

After 400 members followed Shin Ok-ju to Fiji, the leader confiscated their passports (source)
Authorities said that they were worried that members might be guarded by the most devoted followers (source)

Other info:

The Fiji government has been generally very supportive of the group, endorsing their businesses and presenting Ok-ju with a Prime Minister's Business Award (source)

Other tags:

Communal

Government Corruption

Short news clip on the cult

Investigative news report