Ep. 12 CBS Reporter Pam Zekman Exposes Chung Moo Quan As A Cult

Chung Moo Quan: The Cult and the Con In the mid-1980s Pam Zekman, an investigative reporter for CBS Affiliate WBBM TV in Chicago, received a tip about the Chung Moo Quan martial arts schools, and started an investigation. Zekman is known for her aggressive investigative work. She has shared two Pulitzer Prizes for investigative reporting, for the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. One of the tips was about a woman who started taking her son into a local Chung Moo Quan school for lessons. While waiting for her son during his lessons, she began a friendship with the instructor and enrolled in lessons herself. The friendship was said to have possibly evolved into a relationship. The married woman’s family intervened, and hired Clinical Psychologist Dr. Edwin Morse to counsel her. According to Dr. Morse, in the spring of 1988 he began working with the woman, who was involved in Chung Moo Quan in the Chicago area. During this therapy, it became evident to him, that the woman was following behavioral and attitudinal practices contrary to her normal mode of operating, before she entered the School. Russell Johnson talked with her husband and he told him that he had hired someone to follow Master Kim, and take pictures of him. The pictures, along with a note, were sent to Master Kim, saying that he could be gotten to, and to leave the man and his family alone. The harassment stopped after that. He expressed to Russell Johnson that he would like nothing better than to see Master Kim dead. Russell took him seriously, but at the time could not comprehend why someone could hate Master Kim so much, that they would want him dead and now Russell Johnson says he is happy that Kim is dead.