Mass Murder in S. Korea May Be Tied to Cult, Swindle

The bound and gagged bodies of 33 people who were linked to a religious cult were found stacked in two piles in a factory attic Saturday after an apparent murder-suicide pact, authorities said.

Police said the bodies were discovered in the attic of a factory cafeteria in Yongin, about 50 miles south of Seoul. Officers said the victims had been dead for up to two days.

KBS, the state television network, said the dead included 29 women and four men. Other reports said the dead included children.

“The investigation is still going on but there are suspicions that it was a religious incident,” a local police officer said.

The tourist souvenir factory was owned by Park Soon Ja, 48, the cult leader who was called “Benevolent Mother” by her followers, authorities said. Park said that God appeared to her and told her to seek followers, they said.

The sect claimed to be Christian and preached that the world was about to come to an end. It demanded extreme spiritual discipline and blind obedience, police said.

Some news reports said Park and her three children were among the dead, but authorities would not confirm the report. Park disappeared Wednesday after police began investigating accusations that she swindled $8.7 million from about 220 people, many of them apparently involved in the cult.

The bodies reportedly were discovered by Park’s husband, Lee Ki Jung.

Hands, Feet Tied Together

The hands and feet of most of the dead were tied together and cloth or rope was tied around their necks, police said. Tissue paper and cloth were stuffed into many of the victims’ nostrils and mouths.

Police said the bodies were stacked in two large piles--14 bodies in one, 19 bodies in the other. Many of the victims were scantily clothed.

Park ran a charity for orphans, homeless elderly people and the poor in the central South Korean city of Taejon.

Korean news reports indicated that Park and aides indoctrinated charity recipients into the cult. Some reports suggested that poor people and children were used as laborers in the Yongin factory, which made ornate traditional Korean furniture for sale to foreign tourists.

Many cult followers appeared to have lent Park large sums of money, the reports added.

Police began investigating the cult Aug. 16 after reports that two people were beaten by Park’s followers after demanding that their money be returned, officials said.