Probe links Shincheonji funds to Kweon Seong-dong political donations in Korea
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The joint prosecution-police investigation headquarters, which is currently investigating alleged collusion between religion and politics, is looking into whether funds from the Shincheonji side flowed to People Power Party lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong in the form of political donations. The team is in the process of verifying the facts based on related account records, statements, and recordings.
The team has secured and is analyzing account records showing that Lee Hee-ja, head of Geunuhoe, and a person surnamed Bae, a close associate of former general affairs chief Go Dong-an, sent donations to Kweon in 2023–2024. It is also known that in 2024, a record of several million won being transferred from Go’s personal account to Lee’s passbook was put on the verification list.
The team is checking whether the Shincheonji leadership attempted to support politicians by using Lee as a consolidation channel. In the process, the team reportedly called in a former Shincheonji instructor as a reference witness and investigated the internal discussions and the route of instruction delivery at the time of the donations, as well as how the funds were raised.
Regarding the size of the donations, allegations are being raised that Lee donated a total of 10 million won to Kweon in 2023–2024 and also donated a total of 10 million won to former People Power Party lawmaker Park Sung-joong in 2022–2023. Allegations have also been raised that immediately after Kweon declared a fifth-term bid in Jan. 2024, many young believers attended a congratulatory event, raising the possibility that the team will check how they were mobilized at the time.
The team is also tracking the flow by including within the scope of the investigation how Go, the former general affairs chief, raised and managed internal funds. Based on points such as the indication that Bae is identified as a person involved in managing Go’s funds and internal statements that Go’s embezzled funds amounted to around 10 billion won, the team is working to confirm how the money was used.
A recording transcript is also being mentioned as investigative material. It states that in a call in June 2021, Go said, “(The president of the general assembly) wanted to get a hold of the Yoon Suk-yeol line through Lee and move forward,” and “They said they would give money and tell them to try to ‘do a deal’ with the current administration on Incheon and Gapyeong.”
However, Lee is said to deny the allegations of a one-on-one meeting with the former president Yoon and any connection to Shincheonji. As it identifies additional figures and transaction lines, the team is reviewing expanding the investigation to see whether there was a structure similar to the “split donations” at issue in the Unification Church case.
Content retrieved from: https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-society/2026/02/18/EWQNDC6JTRBFBALAK5PAP2C6LE/?outputType=amp.
