The 82-year-old leader of the Unification Church was arrested in South Korea early Tuesday as investigators probe allegations that the church bribed the wife of jailed former president Yoon Suk Yeol and a conservative lawmaker.
Han Hak-ja, the widow of the church’s South Korean founder, Sun Myung Moon, has denied allegations that she directed church officials to bribe Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, and the lawmaker.
The Seoul central district court approved investigators’ request for an arrest warrant for Han, saying she posed a risk of destroying evidence.
A self-proclaimed messiah who preached new interpretations of the Bible and conservative family values, founder Moon built the Unification 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.
Han did not speak to reporters as she arrived at the Seoul court on Monday for a hearing on the warrant request. After an hours-long hearing, the court issued its decision in the early hours of Tuesday as Han awaited the verdict at a detention centre near Seoul, where she will now be held.
The Unification Church had criticised investigators’ attempts to arrest Han, noting that she appeared for questioning last week while still recovering from a heart procedure earlier this month, and accused them of disrespecting an “internationally respected religious leader”.
Former first lady Kim was arrested and charged last month on allegations including bribery, stock manipulation and meddling in the selection of a legislative candidate. Kim has denied the allegations, calling them “false information”.
The lawmaker, Kweon Seong-dong, a staunch Yoon loyalist who was arrested last week, has denied receiving money from the church. Investigators also last week visited the headquarters of his conservative People Power party to obtain documents in order to examine claims that Unification Church members signed up en masse ahead of the party’s 2023 leadership race to boost Kweon’s candidacy.
South Korea has a long tradition of politicians courting religious groups, from powerful Protestant lobbies to homegrown movements around self-proclaimed messiahs. In a country that is majority secular, religious groups wield disproportionate political influence.
Members of the ruling Democratic party, including leader Jung Chung-rae, have demanded the People Power party’s dissolution should the allegations be proven, citing violations of constitutional church-state separation. Hwang Myeong-seon, one of the party’s lawmakers, said “political groups that parasitise on religious power no longer have the right to exist.”
Former conservative heavyweight Hong Jun-pyo turned against his old party, calling it “no different from a political party dominated by pseudo-religious cult leaders.”
Han’s arrest follows Japan’s court order to dissolve the Unification Church in March after former prime minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination by a man whose family was said to be bankrupted by church donations.
The investigation into Kim is one of three special prosecutor probes launched under Seoul’s new liberal government investigating Yoon’s presidency. Kim faces her first criminal trial on Wednesday, which her lawyers said she would attend.
The others focus on Yoon’s planning and execution of his short-lived martial law imposition on 3 December and his government’s alleged cover-up of a marine’s drowning death during a 2023 flood rescue operation.
Yoon’s martial law lasted only a few hours before the liberal-led legislature voted to lift it. He was impeached later in December and formally removed from office in April. He was re-arrested in July and now faces insurrection and other charges.
Prosecutors have summoned him for questioning on Wednesday over allegations he ordered drone missions to North Korea to create a pretext for the failed martial law. Yoon also has a bail hearing scheduled for Friday, though he has continuously boycotted ongoing court proceedings and refused prosecutor questioning.
His wife has been investigated over various criminal allegations, stemming from events both before and during her husband’s presidency. The suspicions include accepting luxury gifts through an intermediary from a Unification Church official who allegedly sought various business favours, including the church’s participation in a Cambodian development project. The official, who has been arrested, is also suspected of providing 100m won ($71,800) in bribes to Kweon.
Han was questioned for nearly 10 hours on Wednesday last week and denied the allegations against her in brief comments to reporters.
Han is the top leader of the church, officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, which her husband founded in 1954.
With Associated Press and Reuters
