Victory Altar () is a South Korean religious movement that has often been characterized as a

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

. The mainstream

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

denominations in South Korea reportedly consider it to be

heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

(). It was founded in 1981 in

Bucheon Bucheon (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Bucheon is located away from Seoul, of which it is a satellite city. It is located between Incheon and Seoul. Bucheon is the second most densely populated city in South Korea after Seo ...

Gyeonggi Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

, South Korea by Cho Hee Sung (). It is also known by the name Yeongsaeng-gyo ().

Description

Founding

According to ''

The Hankyoreh ''The Hankyoreh'' () is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternative to existing newspapers, which were regarde ...

'', the group's website says that Cho originally attended a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

church in

Gimpo Gimpo (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It borders Incheon, with which it shares the South Korean side of the Han River (Korea), Han River estuary, as well as Seoul and the lesser cities o ...

. He was eventually taken prisoner by the

North Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) encompasses the combined military forces of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). The KPA consists of five branches: the Ground Force, the Naval Force, the Air Force, the Str ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. After his release, he committed himself further to religion and decided to attend the Daehan Theological Seminary & University. Afterwards, he served as an officer in the

South Korean Armed Forces The Republic of Korea Armed Forces (), also known as the ROK Armed Forces, are the armed forces of South Korea. The ROK Armed Forces is one of the largest and most powerful standing armed forces in the world with a reported personnel strength o ...

and allegedly established seven middle and high schools and several churches. Cho suffered from lung and ear diseases, but was allegedly miraculously cured after meeting Park Tae Son, the founding leader of the Olive Tree religious movement. Following this, on October 15, 1980, he claimed to have completely eliminated evil in himself and claimed to have begun a movement to save humanity. The group was founded and led by Cho in 1981 in Bucheon, Gyeonggi as "Yeongsaeng-gyo The Lord's Crusade Victory Altar" ().

Beliefs

''The Hankyoreh'' also claims that the group believes Cho was a supernatural

messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

(or it claims, equivalently,

the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

), and that following him would earn people the power to heal diseases and everlasting life. The newspaper reported that some of its members believed Cho was still alive, even in 2021. According to '' The Dong-A Ilbo'', the group believes that God is the progenitor of mankind, and that people have become corrupted, resulting in the change of their skin color. ''The Hankyoreh'' also claimed that the group pledged five goals: to eliminate communism from the world, to end the summer monsoon season, prevent

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

s, ensure good harvests, and prevent war from breaking out in Korea. Mainstream Protestant denominations in South Korea consider the group to be heretical.

Controversy

In 1994, Cho was arrested for fraudulent donations. In 1998, he was sentenced to serve time in prison. In 2003, the group gained infamy when police investigated the disappearance of 15 of its followers. Police eventually found human remains buried in the church's garden. Cho, who was then serving a six-year prison sentence, was again charged with fraud, exploitation of labor, and illegal detention. In 2004, he was eventually sentenced to death, along with two other church members. Before his execution however, he died of a heart attack in August 2004. Since Cho's death in 2004, the group has been led by Lee Yeong-ja () . During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in South Korea, ''The Dong-A Ilbo'' reported that the group agreed to not host in-person services between January 16, 2020 and February 18, 2021. The group also claimed it would maintain strict social distancing during any gathers it would hold, with less than 10% occupation in worship spaces. However, according to the Bucheon government, on February 9, 20 people were confirmed to have the disease with 16 cases at a male dormitory it operated, 1 in a female dormitory, 2 in a factory where its members worked, and 1 in its orchestra. The following day, ''The Hankyoreh'' reported that, of an investigation of 273 people affiliated with the church, 53 people were confirmed to have the disease. That day, the group released a public apology, promising full cooperation with the government to manage the spread of the disease.

References

External links