Unification Church campaigned for Yoon Suk Yeol in 2022 presidential election: report
The accusations come amid the government's ongoing probe against the former president's wife and the controversial religious sect's alleged lobbying.
According to CBS No Cut News, branches of the Unification Church gathered their followers on March 3, 2022 — a day before the prevoting for the presidential election that Yoon won — and instructed them to vote for Yoon, then candidate of the conservative People Power Party.
The meeting supposedly carried messages that were against the Democratic Party of Korea, and messages that the next president should be one who could "hear the words of the heavens."
Han Hak-ja — the incumbent leader of the group and wife of the founding leader Moon Sun-myung — reportedly addressed high-ranking church officials in a Seoul hotel on March 2, 2022. In her speech, she was critical of then-incumbent President Moon Jae-in and claimed "the will of the heavens should be upheld in the presidential election."
It was reported last week that the special counsel team investigating former lady Kim Keon Hee found evidence suggesting that the Unification Church funneled substantial amounts of cash to its branches to support Yoon's party ahead of the 2022 election.
If the allegations are confirmed, the church would have violated the Public Official Election Act, which states in Article 85 that no one should use their position in a religious group to have members engage in an election campaign.
The church's official position is that it has not illegally sponsored a "certain individual," although it did not elaborate.
The Unification Church is also accused of gifting luxury bags and a necklace to Yoon's wife.
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