It has been confirmed that former Unification Church world headquarters chief Yoon Young-ho met Lee Jong-seok, director of the National Intelligence Service (then head of the Peace and Prosperity Committee for presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea), in 2022. Lee said, "I met him once, but there was no interaction afterward."
A call transcript from Jan. 2022 between former Deputy Minister Yoon and another key Unification Church figure, a person surnamed Lee, obtained by ChosunBiz on the 10th, includes indications that they had met or tried to contact figures from the Democratic Party of Korea ahead of the Unification Church-hosted "Korean Peninsula Peace Summit." At the time, with the 20th presidential election approaching, the Unification Church was seeking attendance at the event by Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung and People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol.
In the transcript, former Deputy Minister Yoon mentioned figures he had "approached" and referred to Director Lee as well. He said that when he met Lee, Lee noted, "From a political standpoint, the Unification Church's position in Korea's religious landscape is still minor," and "this is a common perception in the Democratic Party."
An investigative report submitted to the court by special prosecutor Kim Keon-hee also included content that former Deputy Minister Yoon and Director Lee had contact. In a message that Yoon's wife, a person surnamed Lee, sent to former chief secretary to the president Jeong Won-ju, there is a line saying that former Deputy Minister Yoon "even forged a connection with Minister Lee Jong-seok, mentor to leader Lee Jae-myung."
At a trial on the 5th, former Deputy Minister Yoon testified, "Before the 2022 Peace Summit, I had contact with four current government minister-level figures, and two of them met President Han Hak-ja."
Former Deputy Minister Yoon is said to have received a response from Director Lee to the effect that "candidate Lee would find it difficult to attend the event." In fact, Lee Jae-myung, then a candidate, did not attend the Korean Peninsula Peace Summit, and instead some figures from the ruling bloc took part.
Director Lee told ChosunBiz, "In early 2022, I did meet once with a Unification Church official at my Sejong Institute office, accompanied by an acquaintance," but added, "There was no contact or interaction after that."
Special prosecutor Min Joong-ki's team, while investigating alleged collusion between the Unification Church and the People Power Party, obtained statements to the effect that the Unification Church also reached out broadly to Democratic Party figures and provided money or valuables to some of them, but did not conduct compulsory investigations. Recently, there was courtroom testimony that Unification Church officials provided cash and other valuables to Democratic Party figures or supported them financially by buying books at publication events.
The special counsel team explained to the effect that "allegations of the Democratic Party's acceptance of money or valuables from the Unification Church are not a target of the investigation," but as controversy over bias persisted, it handed the related case over to the Korean National Police Agency's National Office of Investigation (NOI) only the day before.
At 4 p.m. today at the Seoul Central District Court, a sentencing hearing will be held for former Deputy Minister Yoon, who has been indicted on charges of soliciting on behalf of the Unification Church. As former Deputy Minister Yoon is set to make a final statement today, there is a possibility that he will reveal the names of Democratic Party figures to whom the Unification Church allegedly delivered money or valuables.