Police are reportedly investigating the involvement of Jeon Kwang-hoon, the pastor of Sarang Jeil Church, in the disturbance at the Seoul Western District Court last January.
According to police and others, the police who conducted a search at Sarang Jeil Church the previous day stated in a warrant that "Pastor Jeon appointed Lee and Yun as special evangelists between 2021 and 2022, using religious faith for gaslighting and providing financial support in exchange for following his directives, thereby keeping them under psychological control." The investigation is also underway regarding the suspicion that Pastor Jeon established a command structure to ensure his orders were communicated to Yun and Lee, who were regarded as 'action members.'
The warrant reportedly included details that Pastor Jeon, regarding the gathering held on Jan. 18 when former President Yoon Suk-yeol's warrant examination took place, "directed participants to mobilize to the Western District Court, starting from the public declaration of the right to resistance," and stated that "while escalating the atmosphere against the issuance of the arrest warrant by the Western District Court, he argued that if an arrest warrant were issued, it would be justified to physically attack state institutions or their functions under the pretext of the right to resistance."
Police believe that Pastor Jeon's aggressive language towards judges has been close to a directive. They judge that even without explicit orders, the words he conveyed acted as a command to Yun and Lee to 'exercise violence to resist public authority if an arrest warrant is issued.' Yun and Lee were found to have actually intruded into the Western District Court and were sentenced to prison terms of 3 years and 6 months, and 3 years respectively in the first instance.
In response to the contents of the warrant, Pastor Jeon's side countered via YouTube, stating, "There is no evidence that Pastor Jeon specifically told Yun and Lee to 'attack,' so they have constructed hypotheses using terms like gaslighting." They claimed regarding Bae In-kyu, who was identified as the 'action leader' in the warrant, that he was "someone who consistently wanted to avoid public gatherings in Gwanghwamun."
Meanwhile, the Security Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Police Agency conducted a search today of residences of related parties near the church to open a found safe. They were unable to open it the previous day because the church side claimed they did not know the password, but it has been reported they plan to open the safe with an expert and check its contents.
Based on the analysis of the seized items, the police plan to summon Pastor Jeon for questioning soon.