The fifth episode of “In The Name Of God: A Holy Betrayal” showed how Kim Ki-Soon came to power in 1978 and attracted many followers who served Ki-Soon for her feigned divinity. Ki-Soon was also responsible for the murder of many of her workers, including a seven-year-old boy named Choi Nak-Won. With the help of her workers, Ki-Soon established a record distribution company called Synnara and made millions. At this time, her cruelty began to increase; Ki-Soon would literally kill anyone for a simple mistake. The sixth episode began with Ki-Soon’s arrest in 1996. The workers worked during the day, and on Sunday evenings, everyone gathered to listen to Ki-Soon’s sermons. The officials used this opportunity to arrest each and every one of them because all of their workers were victims. Moreover, the officials knew that the workers had suffered from Ki-Soon’s illegal and brutal methods. The policemen surrounded the entire community and arrested every last one of them. But all the followers were blinded by their faith, and Ki-Soon’s workers decided to attack the officials instead. Several workers later came forward and admitted their mistakes in the whole riot.
While the others were busy fighting the policemen, some of them helped Ki-Soon escape. She fled the factory and hid in the forest until everything returned to normal. At that point, Ki-Soon’s tears were worthless because she deserved a harsh punishment.
Spoilers Ahead
Kang Min-Koo’s Involvement In The Case
Kang Min-Koo was the chief prosecutor in Nak-Won’s murder case. With the help of Ki-Soon’s associates, Min-Koo managed to gather the information that led him to understand Nak-Won’s death in detail. At first, Min-Koo couldn’t believe what had happened at the compound until he received more statements from the victims. They had all been stripped and brutally beaten up. Soon, the victims decided to sue Ki-Soon because they finally realized that she had done something to them that was disgusting and ridiculous. Min-Koo began investigating his case 10 years after Nak-Won’s murder. This time, Min-Koo didn’t learn about the case on his own; Nak-Won’s father, Choi Myeong-Ho, had reported Ki-Soon. Myeong-Ho had to come forward to solve the case because the officials needed solid evidence against Ki-Soon. The death of a child added weight to the case, and some of the victims had also agreed to help. The next day, Min-Koo and the police officers decided to arrest a few more people from the Baby Garden.
It was absolutely shocking because Min-Koo had discovered a locker completely stuffed with cash worth more than 700 million won, which would be equivalent to about 1.3 billion won today. Ki-Soon had her own sauna and a clay bed. When officials compared her room with the workers’ rooms, they found that their rooms were ugly and uncomfortable. In addition, Ki-Soon owned many luxurious cars and items. The police officers tried everything to locate Ki-Soon, but she was a very intelligent woman. She hid until the heat went down because the whole city was looking for her.
The Missing Victims
Despite all the accusations against Ki-Soon, some of her followers still loved her and tried to protect her name even though she had disappeared for days. The workers continued to work in the Baby Garden and refused to give any information to the police officers. They were blinded by Ki-Soon’s manipulative actions and thought she was a wise woman. In addition, some of them were extremely disrespectful to the officers and accused them of invading their personal space. The prosecution found that three other members had been killed and buried in the Baby Garden, but officials were unable to gather evidence from the community; while one victim was cremated, the others had been buried. It was difficult to locate the remains, because the bodies had been missing for a long time. In 1988, a 44-year-old man named Yoon Yong-Ung was found dead. Ki-Soon had told his daughter that he had died of pesticide poisoning. Moreover, Yong-Ung’s daughter was not allowed to see her father even after his death. But Ki-Soon did not stop there, instead she continued her methods and finally killed a 21-year-old girl, Kang Mi-Gyeong.
Mi-Gyeong was an attractive woman who was very kind and helpful and liked by everyone in the community. Ki-Soon had three sons, and one of her sons was attracted to Mi-Gyeong and used to visit her as she worked as a housekeeper in Ki-Soon’s house. Ki-Soon’s son took advantage of this opportunity and physically abused Mi-Gyeong. To avoid any controversy, Ki-Soon put all the blame on Mi-Gyeong and punished her. All the workers beat Mi-Gyeong with sticks until she lost consciousness. It was pretty clear that Ki-Soon wanted to kill the girl because she was a big threat to Ki-Soon’s son. In the end, Mi-Gyeong was still alive and even tried to escape, but a woman rushed in through the door and hit her with a broom, killing her. Ki-Soon manipulated the parents to beat their children which helped her to escape the legal consequences. In addition, Mi-Gyeong’s father refused to press charges because Ki-Soon manipulated him into believing Mi-Gyeong was the one in the wrong. Soon, the workers found out that Ki-Soon had connections throughout the city that helped her fabricate the cause of Nak-Won’s death.
With the help of a doctor, Ki-Soon prepared a death certificate showing that Nak-Won had died of a heart attack. Yeong-Re had no choice but to sign the document. She took the documents to the local office, and no one believed Yeong-Re because she showed no signs of remorse or regret. The next day, Yeong-Re had her son’s body cremated but had to leave before his body was completely burned. Officials were unable to find Ki-Soon for a week, and during that time, the officials and prosecutors faced criticism from reporters who believed the officials had helped Ki-Soon escape. Finally, a dredge operator named Yoon Bang-Su decided to speak out about the victims. He had been responsible for the burial and cremation of the missing workers.
Kim Ki-Soon’s Confession: Where Is He Now?
On December 20, 1996, everyone gathered at Baby Garden to search for the bodies. After three days, Bang-Su arrived at the scene to help the officials. They decided to first find Mi-Gyeong’s body, which had been buried in 1988. Together with other workers, Bang-Su carried her body to the site and used the excavator to bury Mi-Gyeong. They started digging everywhere, but officials could not find her body. Mi-Gyeong’s body would have been of great use to the prosecution. Surprisingly, Ki-Soon decided to confess to her crimes in the end. When she arrived, the media literally surrounded her and asked her several questions about the sect. She refused to answer any of them and stood there confidently and without remorse. Ki-Soon was dressed like an old lady to appear innocent. Ki-Soon’s lawyers had told her that she might have to spend three days in jail. So Ki-Soon decided to confess, thinking that she would only have to spend three days in jail, but things did not go in her favor. Kang Min-Koo continued the days of interrogation, but she did not open up.
Ki-Soon denied all accusations and claimed she knew nothing about the missing victims. In 1997, Ki-Soon said she had been the leader of Baby Garden and refused to talk about Choi Nak-Won because she claimed the boy had never lived in the Baby Garden community. Things became even more complicated when Bang-Su decided to change his testimony and accused the prosecution of threatening him. By this time, Ki-Soon’s advisor, Lee Soon-Bok, was in charge of the case, and she managed to get Bang-Su to change his statements. Eventually, Yeong-Re decided to testify in court and accuse Ki-Soon of murdering her son. With Yeong-Re’s testimony, things would have been easier since it was her last chance to prove Ki-Soon’s crime. Although they had enough witnesses to corroborate the incident, the prosecutors were skeptical because Ki-Soon was good at manipulating people and had tried to manipulate Yeong-Re in the past.
On the day of the trial, however, Yeong-Re couldn’t testify against Ki-Soon and lied about the entire incident. She told prosecutors that Nak-Won had died of a heart attack. Although the other workers confessed to the crime, Nak-Won’s mother denied all the allegations against Ki-Soon. Finally, Ki-Soon took the opportunity to lie about the entire case and confessed that she had only punished Nak-Won. The prosecution couldn’t prove anything due to a lack of evidence and a false statement by Yeong-Re. Nevertheless, Ki-Soon was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 5.6 billion won. After her release, Kim Ki-Soon continued to live in Baby Garden, and her crimes were never proven.
