{"id":59895,"date":"2026-07-21T09:53:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T00:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=59895"},"modified":"2026-07-22T12:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T03:54:17","slug":"vomk-report-408","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2026\/07\/21\/vomk-report-408\/","title":{"rendered":"RUSSIA: CHILD EVANGELISM FELLOWSHIP DESIGNATED \u201cUNDESIRABLE ORGANIZATION\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Voice of the Martyrs Korea has learned that Child Evangelism Fellowship-USA (CEF) has been added to the Russian Federation\u2019s list of undesirable organizations. The ruling comes as CEF Korea Missionary Park Tae Yeon faces a possible 17-year sentence in a trial set to begin July 28 in Khabarovsk, according to Voice of the Martyrs Korea.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left|color:%23111111″ google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” css=”” el_class=”headline”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Voice of the Martyrs Korea says the potential legal risks for CEF workers and CEF-related organizations across the Russian Federation should be considered “quite high”.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]\u201cThe decision\u00a0<\/span>to designate CEF-USA as an undesirable organization in Russia\u00a0<\/span>was issued by the Russian Prosecutor General\u2019s Office on July 6 and issued as Order of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation No. 1000-r dated July 16, 2026,\u201d says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr Hyun Sook Foley. She says the reason for CEF\u2019s inclusion on the list\u00a0<\/span>were<\/span>\u00a0not specified in the Order.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”59898″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_custom_heading text=”Ms. Park Tae-yeon has been living with a sincere love for the country of Russia and its people since she arrived there in 1993.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0101|line_height:1.45em” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]\u201cBasically, when an organization is designated undesirable by Russia, it means that participating in the activities of that organization or storing or distributing materials for the organization\u2014even storing one\u00a0<\/span>copy of one material, like at a library\u2014<\/span>can result in criminal charges<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe\u00a0<\/span>\u2018undesirable\u00a0<\/span>organization<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>\u00a0itself is banned from operating its programs, distributing its materials, or creating structures to accomplish its work. Even a single activity on behalf of an undesirable organization\u2014including transferring money to them\u2014can result in a criminal charge.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Representative Foley says that because the Order includes no details, it is not immediately clear whether the designation applies to other branches of CEF, including CEF Korea.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]\u201cOur experience with these cases in Russia is that designations like this are broadly applied, so CEF work and workers from any branch which are currently operating in Russia will likely be\u00a0<\/span>adversely\u00a0<\/span>affected by this ban,\u201d says Representative Foley. She notes that the list of undesirable Christian organizations is growing rapidly in Russia.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Voice of Martyrs Korea\u00a0<\/span>has been advocating for\u00a0<\/span>CEF-<\/span>Korea\u00a0<\/span>M<\/span>issionary Park Tae-Yeon since her\u00a0<\/span>arrest<\/span>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/span>Khabarovsk,\u00a0<\/span>Russia in January<\/span>. Representative Foley says the missionary is scheduled to appear in court\u00a0<\/span>on three immigration-related charges\u00a0<\/span>beginning July 28 and that the trial is expected to continue until August 10.\u00a0<\/span>Missionary<\/span>\u00a0Park faces a possible total 17 years in prison, according to Representative Foley.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]\u201cWhile Child Evangelism Fellowship is not mentioned in Missionary Park\u2019s indictment, we have been\u00a0<\/span>concerned that the delay<\/span>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/span>Missionary Park\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>trial date\u00a0<\/span>may have been due to investigators using the case against Missionary Park as an opportunity to gather information which\u00a0<\/span>could potentially\u00a0<\/span>be used in\u00a0<\/span>other,\u00a0<\/span>future\u00a0<\/span>legal\u00a0<\/span>actions by authorities against\u00a0<\/span>CEF-related workers and ministries, including the\u00a0<\/span>Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals) of Russia<\/span>, the denomination which has partnered with Child Evangelism Fellowship organization in Russia<\/span>\u00a0for some activities<\/span>,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]An online petition posted by Voice of the Martyrs Korea from February to April garnered more than 4,000 signatures from Korea, along with more than 1,000 signatures from Russia, Ukraine, the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Africa, Finland, Zimbabwe, Poland, Hungary, Indonesia, Romania, Nigeria, Scotland, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In April,\u00a0Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representatives\u00a0Dr Hyun Sook Foley\u00a0and CEO Pastor Eric Foley<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>delivered<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0petition to the Russian Embassy in Seoul<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>calling for the\u00a0missionary\u2019s\u00a0immediate release.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Copies of the petition were also sent to the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Park Tae Yeon is a<\/span>\u00a0Korean missionary\u00a0<\/span>who was arrested\u00a0<\/span>in Khabarovsk, Russia\u00a0<\/span>January 15,\u00a0<\/span>one week before she was scheduled to return home to Korea to retire at age 70.\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span>uthorities fined the missionary for overstaying her visa, despite the overstay being due to her detainment by Russian authorities.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Voice of the Martyrs Korea has learned that Child Evangelism Fellowship-USA (CEF) has been added to the Russian Federation\u2019s list of undesirable organizations. The ruling comes as a CEF missionary from Korea faces a possible 17-year sentence in a trial set to begin July 28, according to Voice of the Martyrs Korea.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Voice of the Martyrs Korea has learned that Child Evangelism Fellowship-USA (CEF) has been added to the Russian Federation\u2019s list of undesirable organizations. The ruling comes as CEF Korea …","protected":false},"author":1959,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[857,235,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-russian-special","category-special-column","category-vomk-report"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1959"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59895"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59929,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59895\/revisions\/59929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}