Detention: Harsh Cell Conditions Spark Outcry

South Korean authorities’ humanity called into question as they put elderly religious leaders (82 and 63) through inhuman conditions in detention cells

Extracts from a sermon delivered by Rev. Demian Dunkley, President of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification in North America, at a Sunday worship service in Elizabeth, New Jersey on 19th October 2025.

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[…] We’re not called to fear. We’re not called to be afraid. We are called to faith. Isn’t that so?

Fear makes us lower our eyes. But faith can raise a nation. And faith today is on trial across the world. I’m not talking about a church. I’m not talking about a doctrine. I’m talking about faith. Faith itself. The freedom and right to believe, to pray, to love.

We stand together here because faith is not a crime, and love is not afraid. Faith is not a crime, and love is not afraid. Aju! [See editor’s note below] So what is really going on? I want to share with you today as much as I possibly can. To bring us to a unity of awareness about what’s really going on. Is that okay?

Our Mother, the Mother of Peace, is currently being held in a detention center in Seoul. Let us now look at the facts that the media seems too afraid to reveal. First, I want to show you what her cell looks like. […]

This is actually an image of a cell that’s 40% larger than her cell. But this is the kind of shape. There’s a place to sleep, there’s a toilet, and there’s no furniture to sit on. And there’s a camera watching you 24 hours a day. And in this cartoon image, it almost looks cozy. But it’s not 10 square meters. It’s actually barely six square meters. Do you know what that is? Let’s go to the next slide.

It’s the same size as a Mini Cooper. […] Her cell is damp. The air is stale. There is no sunlight, just a single bulb above her.

She has no bed, and she has no mattress […]. No mattress. Instead, she folds her blankets beneath her and pulls the remaining one to cover herself at night. But the damp still seeps through.

She has to wash her own clothes. By hand and hang them in her cell, making the air heavier still. There’s no sufficient heating. She is cold, but she sweats profusely because of her condition. And she has no extra clothes to change into. So her clothes stay wet. Her hair is wet, and she’s getting weaker. She falls from dizziness.

So, with failing eyesight, our Mother crawls around herself on her hands and knees. Her knees are bruised; her feet are swollen. Her arms are numb. She’s in pain. At 82, she endures heart failure, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, and near blindness, among other things.

She needs a wheelchair or at least a cane or assistance.

• To get a wheelchair. Forbidden.
• A cane. Forbidden.

What did the doctor prescribe after her procedure? Absolute rest. What did she receive? Endless interrogation, 25 hours in total. And now life in a cell cut off from the world.

Her meals are not good. She survives on a milk formula. These are not false accusations. These are facts.

But she’s not the only one carrying this cross. Pastor Son [Son Hyun-bo (손현보) of Busan’s Segyero Church (세계로교회)] is in the same detention center. He was detained for standing by his beliefs, questioned for hours and still faces uncertainty.

For simply defending his right to faith and to express that faith, expressing his right for values that he believes in. And he believes that he has the freedom to express those values to other free citizens.

Over Chuseok [Korean holiday], his son, […] – his name is Chance – reported that his father had caught the flu, was terribly sick, but was told that he would have to wait ten days before receiving medication.

While others who have great responsibilities, were enjoying the festivities and deep meaning of Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving, these same people allowed children of God, servants of God, including an 82-year-old great grandmother who can barely see or walk, remain in a cell without visitation.

We also remember Jeong Hee-cheol (정희철), who was recently investigated by the same prosecution team that interrogated True Mother. He only went through half of the grueling course that she did. 13 hours of interrogation compared to her 25. But it sent him to his end.

He took his own life, reportedly due to the psychological pressure of their interrogation style. His note read in part, “I want to turn my back on the world.”

His lawyers requested a transcript of the interrogation, at least for the family, that they might know what it was that he went through in his final moments. Denied.

One life has already ended and two remain in the balance. This is not rumor. These are recorded facts now.

Jeong Hee-cheol was in his 50s and healthy. Pastor Son in his 60s and looks pretty healthy. Mother is in her 80s. How long can an elderly great grandmother endure conditions that a man in his 50s cannot survive? And he wasn’t even in the detention center.

Each day in that cell is a test of her strength, but it is also a test of our humanity. Every democracy knows a sacred duty to protect the elderly, right? Is there some written rule that if you see a baby in harm’s way or an elderly person in harm’s way, you have to help?

Or is the very conscience of the human being already awakened or aware enough to naturally know those things? […]

Because even within the animal kingdom, animals know to protect the vulnerable, even if it’s an enemy. Every democracy knows this. Every faith knows this – to protect the elderly.

So all we ask for is transparency, for proper medical access, and for due process, right? […]

This morning, it has been 27 days. 27 days since she entered that cell. 27 days of damp air and sleepless nights.

Featured image above: Rev. Demian Dunkley speaking in Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA on 19th October 2025. Screenshot from live transmission by FFWPU

[Editor’s note: “Aju” (아주!) is mainly a new prayer conclusion. It is used instead of “Amen”. The expression was coined by Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han in 2006. “Aju” replaced the traditional “Amen” to signify not just affirmation of God’s power, but a pledge to fulfill God’s will through one’s own responsibility – a move away from simply asking God to act, toward actively committing oneself to act.]

See also In Tiny Solitary Cell: Irreversible Harm Caused

See also Complaint Filed Against Lead Special Prosecutor

See also SKorean Court’s Sharp Criticism of Prosecutors

See also Court Decision to Prolong Detention Condemned

See also Co-Founder, 82, Questioned 9 Hours by Prosecutors

See also Korean Crisis: “True Democracy Must Serve Heaven”

See also News Release Blasts Indictment of Hak Ja Han, 82

See also Response to Recent SKorean Media Allegations

See also HQ Statement on Mother Han’s Court Appearance

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