Nov. 15, 2013
The
Hankyoreh
By
Cho Yeon-hyun, religion correspondent
30
elders from Yoido Full Gospel Church, the world’s largest megachurch, held a
press conference at the Korea Ecumenical Building in Seoul’s Jongno district on
Nov. 14 to allege that senior pastor David Yonggi Cho and his family funneled
off hundreds of billions of won from church donations.
The
sheer scale of the amounts alleged by the elders to have been misappropriated
is beyond the imagination. The elders made public a report from an
investigation into three alleged improprieties by Cho made by a special
investigation committee and ethics committee formed within the church last
year. This time around, the allegations came from members of a group called the
Prayer Meeting for Correcting the Church, including elders Kim Dae-jin and Kim
Seok-kyun.
First,
they claim that Cho returned only 64.3 billion won (US$60.2 million) of the
163.3 billion won (US$152.9 million) he borrowed from the church while building
the CCMM Building between 1992 and 1998, when he was chairman of the church‘s
Mission Society. The remaining 99 billion won (US$92.7 million), they say, was
never returned.
By
the elders’ account, construction payments of 28.5 billion won (US$26.7
million) and 16.6 billion won (US$15.5 million) were made at the time to Next
Media Corporation and Facility Management Korea, companies managed by Cho’s
eldest son Hee-jun.
It
is also being claimed that Cho’s third son Seung-jae’s International Club
Management Group bought three floors of the building from the church for 29.5
billion won (US$27.6 million) and sold them back three years later for 37.2
billion won (US$34.8 million) - pocketing the difference of 7.7 billion won
(US$7.2 million).
In
addition to allegedly appropriating 34.2 billion won (US$32 million) in Kukmin
Ilbo newspaper lifetime reader memberships from 50,000 people for stock investments,
Cho Hee-jun was also accused by the elders of making off with a total of 240
billion won (US$224.7 million) in assets related to the church.
They
also claimed that David Cho’s wife Kim Sung-hae, president of Hansei
University, has yet to account for 10.5 billion won (US$9.8 million) paid by
the church as support for Bethesda Christian University, an institution she
runs in the US. The elders also view US real estate purchased by the university
for around US$15 million as having been bought with church money.
In
total, the elders are accusing the Chos of embezzling as much as US$500 million
or more in church money.
Associates
of David Yonggi Cho insisted he had “no connection with any direct exchanges of
money.”
Kim
Sung-hae’s camp said the details of the Bethesda Christian University situation
would be brought to light by prosecutors, who are currently investigating, but
added that the elders’ claims were “merely allegations, not facts, and not
worth responding to each one.”
The
most explosive part of the allegations is the sheer amount of money supposedly
received by David Yonggi Cho. The elders claim he received a severance payment
of 20 billion won (US$18.7 million) when he stepped down as head pastor in 2008
- and that even that was decided without their knowledge or any voting by major
church decision-making bodies. They also said no information was available on
the whereabouts of 12 billion won (US$11.2 million) a year paid between 2004
and 2008 - 60 billion won in total - for “special missionary expenses.”
The
elders gave a yearly total of 100 billion to 120 billion won (US$93.6-112.3
million) in donations received by the church. This would mean the annual amount
taken in by the headquarters dropped by almost half from about 200 billion won
a year when Cho spun off the Jisungjun center in downtown Seoul around the time
he handed over senior pastor duties to Lee Young-hoon in 2008. Nevertheless, it
remains the largest amount received in donations by any religious body in South
Korea.
The
elders also claim that Cho continued controlling the church even after his
“retirement” by making decisions as “governor” - to the point where his
successor Lee had difficulty exercising his authority on appointments and
finances.
One
of the former elders at the press conference, Ha Sang-ok, previously admitted
to taking part in giving 1.5 billion won (US$1.4 million) while collecting the
book “Madame Butterfly in Paris” from a female vocalist in France named Jeong
who anonymously wrote the account about an affair with Cho.
“A
sect leader might violate the commandments and do as he wishes, but a pastor
cannot do that,” Ha said. “Over the past 14 years, I have met with Rev. Cho
many times to try to persuade him to repent and return to being a great pastor,
but the corruption has continued. That‘s why I had no choice but to disclose it
to the outside world.”
The
elders also made public a statement allegedly made by Cho saying he would give
Jeong 1.5 billion won in exchange for her making no future mention of their
extramarital relationship, along with copies of receipts for the two
transactions totaling 3 billion won.
The
church’s public relations office said the claims were “a personal matter that
the church has no comment on.”
Lee
Won-gun, an elder who functions as Cho’s “chief of staff,” said Cho is
“unconcerned with money, to the point where I’ve never once seen him talk about
giving money or not giving money to somebody.”
“There
will be a response from this side after looking at the elders’ claims,” Lee
added.
Cho
is currently on trial for alleged causing 15.7 billion won (US$14.7 million) in
damages to the church by instructing it to buy 250,000 shares of his eldest
son’s stocks at a rate four times market value.
During
the press conference, a physical altercation occurred when a number of Cho’s
supporters attempted to rush the platform at the press conference and accused
the elders of “insulting” the pastor.
·
