{
  "id": 15580627,
  "title": "South Korean sect leader gets additional 33 years in jail for sexual assaults",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/19/south-korean-sect-leader-gets-additional-33-years-in-jail-for-sexual",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-19T08:06:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Channel News Asia",
    "slug": "channel-news-asia",
    "url": "https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/south-korean-sect-leader-gets-additional-33-years-in-jail-sexual-assaults-6471261"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The leader of South Korea's Jesus Morning Star religious sect, Jung Myung-seok, has been sentenced to an additional 33 years in prison. He was found guilty of sexually assaulting and abusing female followers, according to prosecutors. Jung is already serving a 17-year sentence for separate sexual assaults committed after his release from prison in 2008 following a rape conviction. In the latest case, Jung is accused of sexually assaulting and abusing 16 female followers over several years up until 2022. He will serve the 33-year term consecutively to his existing sentence, as reported by a Daejeon court official. The sect's mission office in South Chungcheong province did not comment on whether Jung would appeal the ruling. Another sect official received a seven-year prison sentence for aiding Jung's actions.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}