On August 13, 2026, seven religious organizations from Korea and abroad, including the Council for Christian Mutual Growth and the Russian Evangelical Alliance, convened the 1st Joint Assembly of World Pastors in Dallas, Texas. The assembly, attended by approximately 3,000 pastors online and offline, sharply criticized the ongoing violations of religious freedom and the erosion of the separation of church and state in the Republic of Korea. Speakers from Russia, Zambia, and other nations joined Korean presenters to highlight the international implications of these actions.
Rev. Im Young-woong, senior pastor of Saehimang Church of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, opened the discussion by addressing the dangerous precedent of dissolving religious corporations. He drew parallels to the case of Japan's Unification Church, which was ordered dissolved by the Tokyo District Court in March 2025 and finalized by Japan's Supreme Court in June 2026. Rev. Im warned that the standard used to dissolve one religious group could be applied to others, citing Article 38 of Korea's Civil Act, which allows revocation of permits for acts that "harm the public interest." He referenced past attempts to revoke permits for Shincheonji-related organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent presidential order to review the dissolution of domestic religious groups, saying, "our concerns are becoming reality." He emphasized that while criminal allegations must be investigated, making an entire religious community a target is a different matter entirely. "The most dangerous thing is that it is not objective criminal facts but 'social unpopularity' that operates as grounds for dissolution," he said, invoking Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Rev. Vitaly Kirillovich Vlasenko, General Secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance, delivered a presentation titled "Public opinion cannot be a verdict." He argued that social pressure and media condemnation cannot justify declaring someone guilty before trial. He referenced the 2020 situation in Daegu when a national petition to dissolve Shincheonji gained over 500,000 signatures in two days, creating an atmosphere of pre-judgment. However, he noted that South Korea's Supreme Court ultimately acquitted Chairman Lee Man-hee on charges related to the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act while upholding some other charges. He stressed that courts must distinguish between guilt and innocence based on evidence, not public sentiment. Regarding the current detention of Chairman Lee on charges of violating the Political Parties Act, he urged that the law be applied equally to everyone.
Bishop Elias Elijah Changa, founder of the Zambia-based Missionary Ambassadors for Global Evangelism, raised humanitarian concerns about the detention of the 95-year-old religious leader. Drawing from his prison ministry experience, he acknowledged that Chairman Lee's peace-building efforts through HWPL do not exempt him from the law, but insisted that judicial decisions must be based solely on law and evidence. He highlighted the severe hardship detention imposes on the elderly and called for lawful alternatives such as bail, residence restriction, or medical accommodation. "We are not demanding special treatment because he is a religious leader; we are asking that the fairness, dignity, and universal rights owed to everyone be extended equally to him," he said.
The assembly concluded with the adoption of a "Joint Statement" signed by Christian leaders worldwide. The statement demands that the South Korean government cease using specific religions as tools of political strife, that the judiciary uphold the presumption of innocence and halt trials by public opinion, and that the court grant bail to the elderly leader whose life is under threat. The organizers declared, "The cases presented here are not the problem of one denomination alone but a grave warning signal spanning religious freedom in the Republic of Korea as a whole," and pledged to continue their response in solidarity with international human-rights organizations and churches worldwide.
