Leader of ‘Moonies’ Church Questioned in South Korea Bribery Scandal

The global cult whose members are known as “Moonies” endures in a South Korean political scandal at the heart of the country’s battle between its leftist leadership and conservative foes.Thirteen years after the death of the founder of the Unification Church, the Reverend Moon Sun-myung’s widow is fighting off charges that she lavished gifts on the wife of Korea’s ousted president, Yoon Seok-yul, and provided funds for one of his political allies.At 83, in a wheelchair while recovering from heart surgery six weeks ago, Han Hak-ja, who inherited leadership of the church from her husband, faces the scrutiny of Korean prosecutors who say she gave about $60,000 worth of jewelry to Mr. Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee. Both Mr. Yoon and his wife are in jail on charges ranging from insurrection to corruption.Ms. Han, six weeks after heart surgery, was strong enough to respond, “No,” when asked by a journalist as she returned home, “Didn’t you directly order the illegal political funds and requests?”Asked if she had given about $73 million in Korean cash to a member of Mr. Yoon’s party, Kweon Seong-dong, she responded, “Why would I do that,” according to South Korea’s leading newspaper, Chosun Ilbo. The paper said she is charged with offering another $153 million in Korean cash to Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party and other party members and of giving Mr. Yoon’s wife “a Graff necklace” valued at $45,000 and two Chanel bags, $14,500.Ms. Han also faces deep divisions within the church, according to a long-time church member, Robert Morton, author of books on church beliefs and history.“She heads what is left of the original church, now called the Family Federation of World Peace and Unification,” Mr. Morton told the Sun. Two of her many children, leading American elements of the church, believe she “betrayed her husband and confiscated his legacy and assets while proclaiming herself the ‘only begotten daughter,’” Mr. Morton said.The church also suffers from a cutoff in funding from its once powerful branch in Japan, where it has faced charges of exploiting gullible followers for enormous donations ever since the assassination three years ago of a former prime minister, Shinzo Abe. His assassin said such donations had bankrupted his mother. A Japanese court recently stripped the church of its tax-exempt status.Although Ms. Han appeared in good health to Korean journalists outside her home, prosecutors may be reluctant to ask the court to imprison her as they have others caught up in the right-left power struggle that’s dividing Korea between forces supporting and opposing the leftist president, Lee Jae-myung. Ms. Han had clearly thrown the influence of the church behind Mr. Yoon, on trial for attempting to impose martial law in December.Mr. Kweon was not so lucky. South Korea’s leading leftist newspaper, Hankyoreh Ilbo, an influential voice on behalf of the ruling Minju, or Democratic Party, said that he had been imprisoned while facing trial for receiving funds from a “former senior director with the Unification Church,” who was also jailed. Mr. Kweon, the newspaper said, was “the first sitting lawmaker to be detained” in three separate cases focusing on Mr. Yoon.Hankyoreh had details that reflected its role as a conduit for leftists. “What the church official wanted in return,” it said, was for Mr. Yoon as president “to turn church priorities into government policy and to attend a church service and listen to the message of church leader Han Hak-ja.”The special counsel team investigating the case was quoted as saying “the suspect,” Mr. Kweon, “made a back-scratching deal with a religious organization and used the Korean government’s budget and organizations to achieve his own personal goals.” The paper said Mr. Kweon visited Ms. Han twice in 2022 during Mr. Yoon’s campaign for president, in which he defeated Mr. Lee by less than 1 percent. “During those visits, he is accused of having taken shopping bags presumably stuffed with cash after bowing respectfully to the Unification Church leader.”Investigators reportedly discovered that Mr. Kweon talked to both the Unification Church official and a shaman spiritualist after Mr. Yoon declared martial law. The Unification Church in many respects reflects traditional shamanism, which is deep-seated in Korean culture despite the rise of Christianity.Mr. Kweon denies everything. “This whole thing is awful,” he told Hankyoreh. “I’ll tell the whole story when I defend myself in court.”

Leader of ‘Moonies’ Church Questioned in South Korea Bribery Scandal

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