The Kim Keon-hee special counsel raided the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (Unification Church) on the 11th. It was the second search and seizure following Jul. It was reported that the raid was to clarify the alleged "mass membership in the People Power Party."
Deputy Special Counsel Kim Hyeong-geun said at a press briefing that "since this morning, we have been conducting search and seizure operations at seven locations, including the five regional headquarters of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification world headquarters." It was reported that the raid covered not only the Unification Church headquarters in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, but also the nationwide regions of the affiliated group Universal Peace Federation.
The raid was said to be related to allegations that the Unification Church intervened in the People Power Party convention in Mar. 2023. The allegation is that ahead of the People Power Party convention in Jan. 2023, the Unification Church enrolled large numbers of Unification Church believers in the party to make Rep. Kwon the party leader. Forcing someone to join a particular party against their will violates the Political Parties Act. It was reported that the search warrant included suspected violations of the Political Parties Act.
Earlier, on Jul. 18, the special counsel searched and seized the Unification Church headquarters and surrounding facilities.
In response, an attorney for the Unification Church said, "There has been no illegal support by the denomination for any particular party or individual," and added, "While the investigation is ongoing, we hope there will be no damage to the denomination's reputation based solely on baseless claims or speculation."
In particular, the Unification Church expressed regret that the list of believers was included again as a target of the search and seizure, following Jul. An Unification Church official said, "The list of believers is central from the perspective of freedom of religion," and added, "Even though the denomination is cooperating faithfully with the special counsel's investigation, it is hard to accept the situation of conducting two large-scale raids."
Regarding recent media reports that "the Unification Church convened overseas believers and others at its Gapyeong facility to prevent the summoning of President Han Hak-ja," a Unification Church official said, "They visited only to commemorate the 13th anniversary (Sept. 8) of President Moon Sun-myung and to discuss missionary work."