Grace Road Church leader Daniel Kim say he is not hiding and demands Fiji's home affairs minister to apologise. 7 September 2023 Photo: fijivillage.com
The leader of Grace Road Church Daniel Kim is demanding an apology from Fiji's home affairs minister Pio Tikoduadua for calling members of the Korean Christian sect "fugitives and runners".
On Thursday, Tikoduadua announced that Fijian authorities had captured and deported two out of six members of Grace Road.
Tikoduadua said two others were not allowed to board the flight due to a High Court order, while Kim and another member of the group remained "at large".
The minister said all six individuals - who were under international arrest warrants - had been declared "prohibited immigrants" and their status was ignored by the Bainimarama regime.
"This has been coming since 2018. Unfortunately, this has been left on the wayside without any action," he said.
However, on Thursday night, Kim held a media conference in Suva, saying that he was not running or in hiding.
"I'm here. If I did wrong, you come and arrest me. Why did you describe us as criminals?"
He rejected Tikoduaudua's claims that Grace Road members were "criminals, fugitives and runners", telling local media he could not accept those words and the minister should apologise.
He has challenged Tikoduadua to arrest him if he has done anything wrong.
Kim said Grace Road was unaware about the removal process and is "genuinely surprised" by the tactics of the police and immigration.
"Our lawyers have successfully obtained a court order last night (Wednesday) to forbid the removal of two members and have since obtained orders forbidding removal of the remaining members, including myself," he said.
"We have further instructed our lawyers to take action steps to review the process undertaken by the police and immigration we believe is a heavy handed and subject to legal challenge."
"Grace Road holds the highest regard for compliance with all laws and regulations, including those governing immigration in Fiji," Kim said.
"We take these matters extremely serious and we have at all times for wholeheartedly cooperated with all authorities to ensure that investigation are both comprehensive and impartial."