Excerpt from islandsbusiness.com
FIJI faces an uncomfortable reckoning as the United States threatens to cut millions of dollars in development aid over allegations of human trafficking tied to a South Korean sect.
Grace Road is a prominent investor with supermarkets, restaurants, and service stations but arrived in Fiji initially to set up a commune on which its members hope to escape the end of the world.
Its leader, Shin Ok-ju and three other members of the Grace Road Church were arrested at Seoul’s international airport in 2018 on charges of human trafficking in Fiji and the US.
Shin was later convicted of assault, child abuse, and fraud.
Since its arrival in Fiji in 2014, Grace Road Group has woven itself into the fabric of the nation’s economy. Its investments span supermarkets, restaurants, beauty salons, and ambitious agricultural projects.
With hundreds of jobs created and new businesses injected into local supply chains, many Fijians see the group as a welcome source of economic energy and innovation.