I don’t know about the South Korean groups this article mentions, but least as relates to the Falun Gong spiritual practice the article is an exercise in ignorance and bigotry.

Falun Gong is not an “exploitive cult,” as Mr. Huang classifies it. That hateful description has no factual basis, but it echoes the Chinese Communist Party’s decades-long propaganda campaign to vilify Falun Gong as a cult, to incite hatred and justify ongoing persecution of the millions of Falun Gong members in China. See, e.g, Matas and Kilgour, Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong For Their Organs (Seraphim Editions 2009), at p. 19: (“the Chinese government labeling of the Falun Gong as an evil cult is a component of the repression of the Falun Gong, a pretext for that repression as well as a defamation, incitement to hatred, depersonalization, marginalization and dehumanization.”). Matas and Kilgour’s book (p. 19) goes on to explain that Falun Gong actually “has none of the characteristics of a cult.”

Similarly, Ian Johnson, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the persecution of Falun Gong, wrote in his book Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China (Pantheon Books 2004) at p. 223 that the “cult” label was designed to “[cloak] the government’s crackdown with the legitimacy of the West’s anti-cult movement.” Johnson went on to explain (p. 224) that: “The group [Falun Gong] didn’t meet many common definitions of a cult: its members marry outside the group, have outside friends, hold normal jobs, do not live isolated from society, do not believe that the world’s end is imminent and do not give significant amounts of money to the organization. Most importantly, suicide is not accepted, nor is physical violence….[Falun Gong] is at heart an apolitical, inward-oriented discipline, one aimed at cleansing oneself spiritually and improving one’s health.”

It is grossly irresponsible for Mr. Huang and Mercator to spread the CCP’s “cult” smear, which is used to justify persecution, torture and imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners in China to this day. (See, e.g., US State Department Report on International Religious Freedom: China, https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/china/, which notes that the millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China face propaganda campaigns, harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention, severe discrimination and other “gross violations of human rights”). During the Chinese government’s brutal repression of Falun Gong practitioners, many Falun Gong practitioners have been unjustly imprisoned, tortured and killed, simply for exercising their freedom of belief.

Also, contrary to Mr. Huang’s thesis, Falun Gong and the traditional values that it espouses might well have generated more “demographic yields” as Mr. Huang puts it, but for the CCP’s brutal persecution of Falun Gong adherents. It is perverse to attack Falun Gong for not fostering natalism, and yet fail to mention the horrible government policies which have torn apart Falun Gong families, and imprisoned or in many cases killed young practitioners merely for upholding their spiritual beliefs.

Falun Gong’s main text, Zhuan Falun (available online for free at falundafa.org), teaches that, “The young adults among us should form families…” Falun Gong teachings also provide that abortion is immoral. So Huang is simply wrong to suggest that Falun Gong does not believe or preach principles that could lead to higher birthrates.

The article also falsely describes Falun Gong as counting among sects that are “mostly focused on personal gain instead of actual religious principles.” Anyone familiar with actual Falun Gong teachings and beliefs knows that is untrue. Falun Gong practitioners are taught to take personal gain and self-interest lightly, and to focus instead on improving one’s character and putting others first. For example, the “Fourth Talk” section of Zhuan Falun says: “…What’s key is to try to worry little about your own self-interest and the disputes that might arise with other people. The spiritual practice done in monastic settings or the wilderness is meant to cut one off from the world and forcibly break one’s attachments to it; you are denied material comforts and made to let them go. Doing spiritual practice in the world [as Falun Gong requires], by contrast, entails a different approach. It demands that you find a way to care little for material things while still leading a regular life…”

Similarly, there is no factual basis for Huang’s suggestion that Falun Gong takes financial advantage of followers. The “Third Talk” section of Zhuan Falun, among many other Falun Gong teachings, prohibits any collecting of fees from practitioners. So again, the article just smears Falun Gong without any factual basis.

I hope that Mr. Huang, the Mercator editors, and any readers fooled by this dishonest article can meet some Falun Gong practitioners in their personal lives, and experience their kind nature first-hand. Falun Gong teachings and practice focus on the importance of living according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It is a peaceful spiritual practice that has given purpose, and improved health and well-being, to millions of people around the world. You can learn more about the practice at https://falundafa.org/ or https://faluninfo.net/.