On August 13, the first Joint Assembly of World Pastors convened with 3,000 participants from major countries, both online and offline, to address what they describe as a crisis of religious freedom in South Korea. Co-hosted by seven Christian organizations from Korea and abroad, including the Council for Christian Mutual Growth, the Korea Christian Leaders Training Institute, the Russian Evangelical Alliance, and the Thai Evangelical Alliance Association, the assembly sharply criticized the undermining of the separation of church and state and the detention of Shincheonji Chairman Lee Man-hee.
Rev. Im Young-woong, senior pastor of Saehimang Church of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, opened the discussion by drawing parallels to Japan's Unification Church dissolution case. He warned against the precedent of dissolving religious corporations, citing Article 38 of Korea's Civil Act, which allows revocation of establishment permits for acts harming the public interest. "Who decides what harms the public interest, and by what standard?" he asked, referencing the 2020 Seoul Metropolitan Government's revocation of a Shincheonji-linked association's permit and the December 2025 presidential order to review dissolving domestic religious organizations. He stressed that investigating individual criminal allegations differs vastly from targeting an entire religious community for dissolution, and invoked Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to assert that religious freedom must not vary based on social popularity.
Rev. Vitaly Kirillovich Vlasenko, General Secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance, argued that "public opinion cannot be a verdict." He highlighted the 2020 case where a national petition to dissolve Shincheonji surpassed one million signatures, creating an atmosphere of pre-judgment. Despite the Supreme Court acquitting Chairman Lee on charges related to COVID-19, other charges were upheld, illustrating the difference between public opinion and judicial judgment. Vlasenko urged that legal standards be applied equally, regardless of doctrine.
Bishop Elias Elijah Changa, founder of the Zambia-based Missionary Ambassadors for Global Evangelism, raised humanitarian concerns, emphasizing that detention is particularly harsh for the elderly. He called for lawful alternatives like bail or residence restriction, stating, "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."
The assembly concluded with a Joint Statement demanding that the government cease using religions as political tools, that the judiciary uphold the presumption of innocence, and that the court grant bail to the 95-year-old leader. Organizers declared that these issues transcend individual denominations, posing a grave warning for religious freedom in South Korea, and pledged continued solidarity with international human-rights organizations.
