Investigators secure testimony that Lee Man-hee ordered Shincheonji followers to join PPP
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The joint police-prosecutor task force investigating alleged collusion between the Shincheonji religious movement and political circles has secured testimony from a former senior official in the church stating that there was an organized effort to enroll Shincheonji followers in the conservative People Power Party, or PPP, in the months leading up to the 2022 presidential election.
The task force reportedly has a recording of a former leader of the Shincheonji church effectively acknowledging an organized mobilization of followers to register with the PPP.
The Hankyoreh confirmed Tuesday that the joint task force has questioned a former senior official with the Shincheonji sect regarding suspicions that it mobilized a large number of followers to register with the PPP months before the presidential election in March 2022.
The former senior official in question reportedly told interrogators that there was a mobilization of Shincheonji followers from May to July of 2021 to register with the People Power Party. The former official told investigators that Lee Man-hee, the founder and president of the church at the time, relayed orders to the leaders of the church’s youth association, wives’ association, and senior association. According to the official, the mass registration was led by a different senior official (identified as “N”) who handled the church’s general affairs.
Regarding why Shincheonji followers threw their weight behind Yoon Suk-yeol in the presidential primary in 2021, the official told investigators that the mood at the time was that Shincheonji “would not survive” if Lee Jae Myung were elected president, and that Yoon was seen as the only candidate realistically capable of defeating Lee. The official further told investigators that the move was the church’s way of “returning the favor” after Yoon blocked two raids of the church during his time as prosecutor general.
In March 2020, when the country focused on Shincheonji as an epicenter in the spread of COVID-19, prosecutors sent back two requests for warrants to raid the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji church. Yoon was the prosecutor general at the time.
Once the press began to report on the allegations that Shincheonji followers joined the PPP en masse, the investigative task force secured a recording of the church’s No. 2, surnamed Ko, discussing follow-up measures.
The relevant recording was made in February 2022, in which Ko allegedly says, “Isn’t it true that [“N”] actually got followers to register with the party in May and June of last year?”
The comments are an effective admission of an organized effort to have followers register as PPP members.
Investigators suspect that Shincheonji orchestrated the infiltration of the PPP ahead of not only the 2022 presidential election, but also ahead of the Grand National Party primary leading up to the 2007 presidential election.
The Shincheonji leader interrogated by the task force also reportedly said that the church mobilized followers to register with the Saenuri Party.
The joint task force is currently investigating the leader of the church’s youth committee, surnamed Cha. Cha headed the youth committee of Lee Hoi-chang’s presidential campaign in 2002. In 2010, Cha reportedly served as a non-standing deputy spokesperson for the Grand National Party.
By Kang Jae-gu, staff reporter
Content retrieved from: https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1240990.html.
