Lee Jun-seok Vows to Include Alleged NBA Star Recruitment via Unification Church in Special Probe

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform Party, said Sunday he would include in a special counsel bill allegations that the ruling Democratic Party attempted to recruit NBA star Stephen Curry through the Unification Church during the 2022 presidential election.

"It seems we need to expand the scope of the investigation after just one day," Lee wrote on his Facebook page, sharing a news report on the allegations. Lee had previously proposed appointing a special prosecutor recommended by a third party to investigate alleged ties between political circles and the Unification Church.

According to Lee, a recorded phone conversation between Yoon Young-ho, former head of the Unification Church headquarters, and Lee Hyun-young, vice chairman of the Unification Church, revealed that Curry was proposed as someone who could "bring in votes from young people," with the Democratic Party side allegedly saying "they would cover the costs."

"The cost for recruiting Curry was $800,000, approximately 1.2 billion won," Lee said.

"Frankly, this is absurd. Did they think that a single video call with Stephen Curry would bring in a flood of young voters?" Lee said. "It's somewhat amusing that this was the level of strategic judgment at the presidential campaign, but it's an even more serious problem that they reached out to the Unification Church to execute this plan."

Lee also called for scrutiny of other high-profile meetings during the campaign. "Presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung met with various domestic and foreign celebrities during the election period," he said. "We now need to examine whether someone paid for and arranged those meetings as well."