Another side note about the fact that UBF is run by Koreans. Indeed, nearly all leadership positions are held by Koreans and even where there are non-Korean sub-leaders they are controlled by the Koreans in the background. Of course UBF is not a cult because they are Koreans. However, the Confucianist mindset of the UBFKoreans influences UBF very strongly. While officially and outwardly they appear as Christians and claim the Bible as their highest standard, in reality their hierarchy and tradition sets the standard and overrules the Bible. Even though Jesus was very much against building up hierarchies (Mt 23) this is exactly what UBF is all about. You can say they are Confucianists in Christian clothing. They run UBF in a way that resembles multilevel marketing and the huge Korean family-controlled business conglomerats known as Chaebol (see Wikipedia). Korea is indeed a very fruitful medium for cults of all kinds, the most famous one being the "Unification Church" which shares some similarities with UBF. You can also consider North Korea one big cult.

Since many of the rank-and-file UBF Korean "missionaries" appear to be very child-like, friendly and loving, even kind of helpless, students open their hearts and souls very quickly to them which allows them to manipulate the students subtly and slowly over time. Also, students are often in a situation where they feel lonely or where they have problems with examinations or are anxious about their future etc. UBF targets particularly metally unstable people with tendencies of dependent personality disorder, exploiting this mental problem and worsening it. There had been several suicides because of this constellation. Instead of effectivly helping such people, UBF coerces everybody into their one way of living as their only "help".

Though the extend of the abuse can vary depending on the respective UBF chapter leader and the personality of the subordinate member, all the UBF chapters are pretty similar, since they operate like a frenchise group. Everything is copied from top down in the hierarchy.

They use arranged marriage first as a bait for the young students, and then as a way to control the married couple. Usually they marry a less loyal members to a very loyal member (therefore the marriages are often between Koreans and Non-Koreans), so the leader can exert control through the more loyal marriage partner.

Here is some more information:

[johnharmstrong.typepad.com]

[www.priestlynation.com]

[www.priestlynation.com]

hope this helps!