Choi Tae-min (5 May 1912 – 1 May 1994) was the leader of the Church of Eternal Life, a

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

n cult combining elements of

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, and traditional Korean Shamanism. Choi, originally a Buddhist monk, then a convert to

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

pastor, was married six times. He was the mentor of the impeached South Korean president,

Park Geun-hye Park Geun-hye (; ; often in English ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, until she was impeached and convicted on related corruption charges. Park was the fi ...

(the daughter of former president Park Chung-hee), until his death in 1994. He allegedly used his relationship with Park to solicit bribes from government officials and businessmen. In late 2016, a

scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

involving his daughter, Choi Soon-sil, broke out, with allegations that she too has exerted undue influence over President Park.

History

Choi Tae-min set up a religious group called Yongsae-gyo (), or "Church of the Spirit World", and declared himself Maitreya, or a "Future Buddha". He befriended

soon after her mother,

Yuk Young-soo Yuk Young-soo (; 29 November 1925 – 15 August 1974) was the wife of the 3rd South Korean president Park Chung-hee and the mother of the 11th South Korean president Park Geun-hye. She was killed in 1974 during an attempted assassination of ...

, was assassinated in 1974. According to a report by the

Korean Central Intelligence Agency Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

from the 1970s that was published by a South Korean news magazine in 2007, Choi initially approached Park Geun-hye by telling her that her mother had appeared to him in his dreams, asking him to help her daughter. Choi was an associate of former-president President Park Chung-hee until the latter's death by assassination in 1979. Kim Jae-gyu, the director of the

KCIA The National Intelligence Service (NIS; Korean language, Korean: 국가정보원, 국정원) is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA; Korea ...

who assassinated President Park Chung-hee, told a court that one of his motives was what he called the president's failure to stop Choi Tae-min's corrupt activities and keep him away from his daughter. In a newspaper interview in 2007, Park Geun-hye called Choi a patriot and said she was grateful for his counsel and comfort during "difficult times". Also in 2007, a diplomatic cable made public through

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

, the American Embassy in Seoul reported rumors that Mr. Choi, a 'Korean

Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, thus ga ...

', "had complete control over Park’s body and soul during her formative years and that his children accumulated enormous wealth as a result."

Frequently-used names

He used seven different names:Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), 1979. * Choi Do-won (, , 1927) * Choi Sang-hun (, , 1945) * Choi Bong-su (, , 1951) * Choi Toe-un (, , 1954) * Gong Hae-nam (, , 1969) * Bang Min (, , 1971) * Choi Tae-min (, , 1975)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, Tae-min Founders of new religious movements South Korean activists South Korean Buddhist monks South Korean police officers People from Sariwon 1912 births 1994 deaths Park Geun-hye 20th-century South Korean businesspeople 20th-century Buddhist monks