Police have launched a compulsory investigation into Pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon and Sarang Jeil Church over allegations including violations of the Political Funds Act.
The Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, headed by Jeong Hwan-su, said on the 25th that it had been executing a search-and-seizure warrant at Sarang Jeil Church in Seongbuk District, Seoul, since 8 a.m. that morning. The investigation concerns suspected violations of the Political Funds Act, as well as occupational embezzlement and breach of trust.
Earlier, in December last year, the National Election Commission filed a complaint against six people, including the former leader of the Liberty Unification Party and Pastor Jeon, on suspicion that they had effectively exchanged illegal political funds through loans from Sarang Jeil Church. The church is suspected of collecting donations and other funds between 2020 and 2025 and lending about 10.2 billion won to the Liberty Unification Party as political funds, while almost none of the principal was repaid.
The Political Funds Act states that domestic or foreign corporations and organizations may not donate political funds, and that no one may donate political funds using money related to a corporation or organization. Violations may be punished as illegal receipt of political funds, carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won.
Sarang Jeil Church released a statement that day, saying, “Every step of the process by which the church lent funds to the Liberty Unification Party was a legally transparent transaction. We directly submitted and reported the relevant documents and spending records to the National Election Commission within the legally required reporting period.” The church also claimed, “This is political persecution: an all-out act of retaliation and an attempt to silence us, carried out in collusion with the administration because they feel threatened by our calls to ‘dismantle the National Election Commission’ and reveal the ‘truth about election fraud.’”
Posted by Freewhale98
2 Comments
SK when it comes to eradicating far right network:
1. Summary
Korean government is cracking down on election meddling by Evangelicals. Political Funds Act which bans any type of corporate/organization political contribution became the biggest legal tool to counter religious infiltration of politics.
2. How is this related to the sub
(1) The separation of Church and State: Korean government is intensifying “war on heretical cults”, a comprehensive program to remove influence of evangelicals, Moonies, Shincheonji and shamans from politics. They are targeting the flow of money & mass-enrollment strategy deployed by cultists to hijack political parties.
3. My opinion
The rise of Yoon Suk-Yoel can be attributed to the conspiracy of evangelicals, shamans, Moonies and Shincheonji. They hijacked PPP party structure, kicked out traditional state & business conservative and replaced them religious conservative. This allowed Yoon Suk-Yoel to win PPP primary.