One of the victims that have attracted the most support and interest from these episodes is Maple Yip. She’s the person who managed to expose JMS and the cult’s wrongdoings, which subsequently led to an arrest. Now that the show has been released, people are wondering what has happened to her since, a year after she revealed everything that was happening.
Who is Maple Yip?
Maple Yip, or Yip Maple Ying Tung Huen (as she’s also known), is a 28-year-old student from Hong Kong who was abused and brainwashed by the JMS Church Cult. This brainwashing began during high school when some of JMS’ followers approached her in a shopping mall.
One of these members contacted her and spoke to Maple during difficult times. She was being bullied at school, and her parents were falling out at the time.
Because of the rough time that Maple was going through, the cult preyed on her need for acceptance and brainwashed her into joining.
Where is Maple Yip from JMS Cult now?
Since escaping the JMS cult, Maple Yip has shared her story in Korea, which has led to the arrest of Jeong Myeong-seok. She has kept chiefly her life private since but has shared that she’s taken up art to help manage her anger (due to what happened).
She has also started dating Alex Fong, an actor, singer, and swimmer from Hong Kong. He spoke to Hong Kong media, saying: “If you knew her, you would all like her. She’s the ‘girl next door’ type and very considerate. For our first meal, I bought her to a hotel for lunch, and she told me I didn’t have to take her to hotel to eat lunch. Her favourite thing is to eat in a cha chaan teng or a Hong Kong style café.” He’s also praised Yip for her bravery and for speaking out.
When Jeong Myeong-seok goes to court, it’s likely that Maple Yip will appear at the trial, but a date hasn’t been set.
What was Maple Yip’s relationship with JMS church leader Jeong Myeong-seok?
Once the cult leader was released from prison, Maple Yip soon became his favorite, primarily because of her singing ability. This led to her taking a more prominent role in the cult as a news anchor, a model, and even doing missionary work.
After building up this relationship with her, Jeong Myeong-seok would invite her to his private residence, away from everyone else, where he sexually assaulted her. This happened multiple times and even brainwashed Maple into thinking that this behavior was normal and would also assault other women in front of her.
How did Maple Yip escape JMS?
Maple would often interpret for foreign stars who couldn’t speak Korean, and one contacted her to ask if she had been assaulted as they had been. Maple explained what happened, and the star advised her to speak out. This is what caused her to tell the cult that because she hadn’t seen her parents in over a year, she wanted to visit them. That’s how she escaped.
The actual reason for this visit was to expose what was going on in the cult, and on March 16, 2022, Maple Yip revealed in a press conference what was going on, which led to the arrest of Jeong Myeong-seok in October of that year.
