Unification Church leader questioned about alleged bribery of South Korea’s former first lady

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The leader of the Unification Church was questioned by investigators on Wednesday over allegations that the church bribed the wife of South Korea’s jailed former President Yoon Suk Yeol and a conservative lawmaker close to him in an effort to secure business favors.

Hak Ja Han, the widow of church founder Sun Myung Moon, appeared before a special prosecutor just hours after a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant for the lawmaker, People Power Party’s Kweon Seong-dong, citing concerns he might destroy evidence.

Han and her church have denied accusations that the church was directly involved in the alleged bribery of Yoon’s now-arrested wife, Kim Keon Hee, who is suspected of receiving luxury gifts from a jailed former church official, saying the official had overstepped his authority and acted on his own. Kweon, a staunch loyalist of Yoon, has also denied receiving money from the church.

“Later, later,” Han told reporters who pressed her about the allegations, as associates supported her while she walked to the investigators’ office. “Let’s discuss this all later when we meet.”

Han’s appearance came after she refused to comply with three previous summons by investigators, citing health reasons following a heart procedure earlier this month. The team led by Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki, investigating suspicions that the church tried to leverage Kim’s influence while pursuing various business interests, including a development project in Cambodia, has not specified whether it would seek Han’s arrest.

South Korea’s liberal-led legislature passed a motion on Thursday to lift Kweon’s immunity to arrest. Yoon, who was removed from office in April and re-arrested in July, has been indicted on rebellion and other charges over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December.

Han is the top leader of the church, which is reported to have a global membership of millions. The church was founded in 1954 by her husband, Moon, a self-proclaimed messiah and anti-communist who preached new interpretations of the Bible alongside conservative, family-oriented values.

The church is perhaps best known for its mass weddings, which often pair couples from different countries and renew the vows of those already married, typically held in stadiums and gymnasiums.

The church, which formally calls itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, said in a statement that Han was still recovering from a procedure on Sept. 4 but appeared for questioning out of respect for “the law and legal procedures.”

Kim, Yoon’s wife, was jailed and indicted last month over various criminal allegations, including claims that she received luxury gifts via a fortuneteller acting as an intermediary for the Unification Church official, and possible involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme tied to a local BMW dealership company.

Investigators also suspect that Kim and Yoon exerted undue influence on the conservative People Power Party to nominate a specific candidate in a 2022 legislative by-election, allegedly at the request of election broker Myung Tae-kyun. Myung faces accusations of conducting free opinion surveys for Yoon using manipulated data that possibly helped him win the party’s presidential primaries before his election as president.

The investigation into Kim is one of three special prosecutor probes launched under Seoul’s new liberal government targeting the presidency of Yoon.

Dozens of people have been arrested or investigated over Yoon’s martial law debacle, corruption allegations involving his wife, and other controversies from his three years in office, including an alleged cover-up of a marine’s drowning death during a 2023 flood rescue operation.

Key suspects include former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who has been accused of planning martial law with Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly in an unsuccessful attempt to block lawmakers from voting to lift it.

Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Yoon’s No. 2, avoided arrest but was indicted for abetting Yoon’s imposition of martial law as well as falsifying and destroying official documents, and lying under oath. More than 60 people were separately indicted for rioting at a Seoul court, which issued the warrant for Yoon’s first arrest in January.