SEOUL\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The leader of a secretive South Korean church was arrested Wednesday as authorities widened an investigation into allegations that he illegally recruited thousands of followers into the conservative People Power Party to influence elections. <\/p>\n
The Shincheonji Church has denied the accusations against Lee Man-hee, 95, a self-proclaimed messenger of Jesus who founded the congregation in the 1980s. The church says it has about 200,000 followers. <\/p>\n
Since January, a special team of prosecutors and police has been investigating alleged ties between religious groups such as Shincheonji and the Unification Church and politicians. The inquiry is part of broader investigations under South Korea\u2019s current liberal government into the presidency of former conservative leader Yoon Suk Yeol, who was ousted from office and convicted of rebellion over his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024.<\/p>\n
Walking with a cane and assisted by a church official, Lee didn\u2019t respond to reporters\u2019 questions as he appeared at the Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday afternoon for a hearing on whether to grant prosecutors\u2019 request for his arrest. <\/p>\n
In issuing the arrest warrant on Wednesday night, the court cited Lee as a threat to destroy evidence. The church, which had previously expressed concern about Lee\u2019s age and health, didn\u2019t immediately comment on his arrest.<\/p>\n
Lee has been suspected of using the church\u2019s regional branches to pressure more than 50,000 followers to join the People Power Party, or PPP, from 2021 to 2024 in hopes of influencing the party\u2019s presidential and legislative primaries. Investigators suspect the campaign, which allegedly included efforts to support Yoon\u2019s presidential bid, was aimed at winning favorable treatment for the church, including permits to expand its facilities.<\/p>\n
Lee\u2019s arrest came months after the arrest and indictment of Unification Church leader Hak Ja Han over allegations that she instructed church officials to bribe Yoon\u2019s wife and a conservative lawmaker close to him in an effort to secure business favors. Han, widow of the church\u2019s founder Sun Myung Moon, has denied the allegations. <\/p>\n
An appeals court in April sentenced Yoon\u2019s wife, Kim Keon Hee, to four years in prison after convicting her on various charges, including receiving luxury gifts from a Unification Church official. <\/p>\n
Yoon was removed from office in April 2025 after being impeached over his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024 following a standoff with the liberal-led legislature. Arrested in July 2025, Yoon is facing multiple trials and has appealed a life sentence for rebellion and a separate 30-year prison term over charges that he ordered drone flights over North Korea\u2019s capital to stoke tensions and justify martial law at home.<\/p>\n
Liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who won an early presidential election last year after Yoon\u2019s removal from office, has authorized multiple investigations into Yoon\u2019s martial law imposition and other allegations involving his administration and wife.<\/p>\n
Lee Man-hee established Shincheonji in 1984, using a word meaning \u201cnew heaven and new earth.\u201d He has been accused by other Christian groups as a false prophet or a cult leader. The church describes Lee as \u201cthe Promised Pastor,\u201d an attendant of Jesus sent to testify what he claims are the fulfilled prophecies from the Book of Revelation.<\/p>\n
Han is the top leader of the Unification Church, officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, which her husband, Moon, founded in 1954.<\/p>\n
Moon \u2014 a self-proclaimed messiah who preached new interpretations of the Bible and conservative family values \u2014 built the church into an international movement with millions of followers and extensive business interests. The church is widely known for mass weddings, pairing thousands of couples who often are from different countries.<\/p>\n
Tong-Hyung writes for the Associated Press. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The leader of a secretive South Korean church was arrested Wednesday as authorities widened an investigation into allegations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[35466,7384,35468,35467,35471,31,14982,35447,6775,35469,30927,35470,35465,33,4345,7881,29256],"class_list":["post-63643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-korea","tag-allegation","tag-arrest","tag-church-official","tag-follower","tag-han","tag-korea","tag-leader","tag-lee-man-hee","tag-martial-law","tag-office","tag-prosecutor","tag-secretive-south-korean-church","tag-shincheonji-church","tag-south-korea","tag-unification-church","tag-wife","tag-yoon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}