President Lee Orders Impartial Probe Into Unification Church Political Funding Allegations

President Lee Jae-myung on Thursday ordered prosecutors to "conduct a strict investigation regardless of party affiliation or status" into allegations that politicians from both ruling and opposition parties received improper funding from the Unification Church.

The directive came after claims emerged that not only opposition figures but also ruling party members had contact with the religious organization. The move is seen as an attempt to quell controversy by emphasizing impartiality in the investigation.

The Presidential Office announced through a media notice that "President Lee issued this directive regarding allegations of illegal ties between a specific religious organization and politicians."

At a Cabinet meeting on June 2, President Lee had stated that "there are cases where religious foundations systematically and organizationally intervened in politics in violation of the principle of separation of church and state. This is unconstitutional." He added, "I understand Japan ordered the dissolution of a religious foundation in a similar case. Please review this option."

At another Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, one week later, the President asked Justice Minister Cho Won-chul, "I instructed you to review measures to dissolve religious organizations engaging in illegal activities with illicit funds. Have you reviewed it?" He reiterated, "Organizations that engage in conduct that violates the Constitution and laws and deserves condemnation must be dissolved."

The special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki had previously investigated allegations that Yoon Young-ho, former global headquarters chief of the Unification Church, systematically provided support to People Power Party lawmakers around the 2022 presidential election.

Recently, it was reported that Yoon testified during the investigation that he had supported not only People Power Party figures but also ruling Democratic Party of Korea members. However, controversy over "biased investigation" arose when it emerged that the special counsel team had not investigated ruling party figures.