Chun Ki-won, South Korean pastor who helped hundreds of youths escape North Korea and was convicted of sexually abusing some of them.

A South Korean pastor who was previously hailed as a hero for helping hundreds of people escape North Korea has been jailed for sexually abusing teenage defectors.

Chun Ki-won, 67, was sentenced to five years in prison for abusing children at the boarding school he ran in Seoul.

For decades, the religious figure was considered a savior figure who people nicknamed the “Schindler of Asia.”

Its operations were described as an “underground railroad” for those fleeing the Northern regime.

He was arrested in Seoul last September.

Police accused him of sexually abusing six North Korean teenagers, including school dropouts, who occupied the dormitories of the alternative school he set up at the Durihana Mission.

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Chun denied the allegations, but on Wednesday A court ruled that the victims’ testimony was irrefutable,

Seoul Central District Court Judge Seung-jeong Kim said, “The victims’ statements are consistent and contain material that cannot be released without direct experience of the circumstances.”

The judge said Chun committed his crimes from “a position of absolute influence”.

He was found guilty on five out of six counts of child molestationSome of whom fled alone and others fled with their families under the direction of the Chun Mission.

Chun founded Durihana, one of South Korea’s most prominent NGOs, which helps North Koreans flee the country via China.

He claims to have helped more than 1,000 North Koreans flee the Kim family’s harsh rule over 25 years, an activity that Pyongyang has personally condemned.

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in 2002, He made headlines after being captured in China for seven months during an escape mission.,

His work, which included establishing an alternative school for the children of North Korean defectors, was widely covered by the media and was the subject of documentaries and news articles by the BBC, CNN, and CNN. the new York Times And National Geographicamong others.

media reports They compared him to German businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust.,

Chun’s arrest and conviction shocked South Korea, where his trial was widely covered by the media this week.

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Television bulletins showed him with brown hair and a white dress, being led away in handcuffs and with guards standing by.