The Kim Keon-hee special counsel said on the 23rd that "People Power Party lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong refused to be questioned at 2 p.m. today." Kweon was arrested on the 16th on charges of receiving 100 million won in illegal political funds from a Unification Church executive.
On this day, special counsel investigator Kim Hyeong-geun said at a regular briefing that "Lawmaker Kweon, who was scheduled to be questioned at 2 p.m., submitted a statement of nonattendance and refused to appear, so the questioning did not take place." Kweon reportedly wrote in the statement of nonattendance that "I was questioned twice (by the special counsel earlier) and gave sufficient testimony."
Kweon is suspected of meeting former world headquarters chief Yoon Young-ho, known as the No. 2 figure in the Unification Church, at a Chinese restaurant in Yeouido, Seoul, on Jan. 5, 2022, two months before the 20th presidential election, receiving a request to push Unification Church pending issues as national policy, and taking 100 million won in cash.
On the night of the 16th, the court issued an arrest warrant for Kweon, saying there were concerns about the destruction of evidence.
Meanwhile, Yoon Young-ho, the former world headquarters chief accused of handing cash to Kweon, was indicted and detained last month. In addition, Han Hak-ja, the Unification Church president accused of ordering Yoon to seek favors for the church's pending issues, was arrested on this day. Han is said to have been placed in a solitary cell at the Seoul Detention Center.