The leader of the controversial religious organization known as Jesus Morning Star(JMS) has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for sexual offenses.

The Daejeon District Court on Friday handed down the prison term to 78-year-old Jeong Myeong-seok after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting and molesting two female followers of foreign nationality on a total of 23 occasions between February 2018 and September 2021.

He was also found guilty of sexually abusing a South Korean female follower and making false statements by denying the allegations brought forth by the two foreign victims.

Prosecutors initially demanded a 30-year prison term for the JMS leader.

Jeong refers to himself as the Messiah, or the second coming of Jesus, and was released in 2018 after serving ten years in prison for raping a number of female followers and embezzling funds from his religious organization.