A pretrial detention warrant hearing for Lee Man-hee, leader of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji), who is suspected of ordering followers to join the People Power Party en masse around the 20th presidential election and the 22nd general election, was held at the Seoul Central District Court on the 24th.
Kim Jin-man, a Seoul Central District Court presiding judge in charge of warrants, held the warrant hearing for Lee starting at 2 p.m. on charges of violating the Political Parties Act and interfering with business, for which prosecutors sought a detention warrant. At about 1:20 p.m., Lee first arrived at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, where the joint prosecution-police task force (headed by High Prosecutors' Office chief prosecutor Kim Tae-hoon; the task force) investigating alleged collusion between religion and politics has its office, waited for about 20 minutes, and then moved to the court to attend the hearing.
Lee appeared at court wearing a checkered cap and a beige jumper, leaning on a wooden cane in one hand. Asked by reporters whether he had ordered followers to join the People Power Party en masse, Lee did not answer and headed to the courtroom. At the scene, five to six members of a victims' group, including Shin Kang-sik, head of the National Shincheonji Victims' Solidarity, protested toward Lee.
The task force sought a detention warrant for Lee on the 22nd. It was 167 days after the task force was launched on Jan. 6. After securing Lee, whom the task force has identified as being at the apex of the Shincheonji allegations, investigators plan to look into whether there were requests or involvement from political circles behind the organized party membership drive.
Lee is suspected of enrolling followers as dues-paying members of the People Power Party from July to September 2021 to support Yoon Suk-yeol, the former president who was then running in the party primary during the 20th presidential election. He is also suspected of carrying out the so-called "Pilates operation" to influence the 22nd general election in 2024 by admitting more than 10,000 followers into the People Power Party.
Article 42 of the Political Parties Act stipulates that no one may be forced to join or leave a political party against their will. The task force also applied the charge of interfering with business, viewing Shincheonji's organized party membership drive as obstructing the People Power Party's internal affairs, including membership screening.
The task force suspects that, under Lee's direction, at least more than 50,000 Shincheonji followers joined the People Power Party. According to the detention warrant request the task force filed for Go Do-gan, former general affairs chief of the Shincheonji general assembly, Shincheonji enrolled 6,482 followers as party members of the People Power Party from July to September 2021. In January 2022, immediately before the 20th presidential election, 2,873 followers joined the People Power Party.
Ahead of the People Power Party leadership primary from December 2022 to January 2023, 35,073 followers joined, and from September 2023 to January 2024, during the 22nd general election phase, 12,044 followers joined the People Power Party, according to the task force.
The task force believes that a broker known as "Geonjin," Jeon Seong-bae, organized a "supporters' movement headquarters" to recruit dues-paying members of the People Power Party with the goal of exercising voting rights at the party convention. Investigators are also examining whether Shincheonji's mass admissions were carried out to resolve internal church issues and to gain influence in political circles.
Since January, the task force has raided the Shincheonji general assembly headquarters and the People Power Party headquarters, securing lists of Shincheonji followers and People Power Party members. It then questioned former and current Shincheonji executives, including the late former general affairs chief known as the "second-in-command," to confirm the details of the membership directives and their execution.
The task force believes the membership order traveled from Lee to the general affairs chief, then to each tribe leader, church pastors, and the adult, women's, and youth associations. It is also said to have obtained statements that, ahead of the 20th presidential election, Lee told national adult, youth and women's association heads words to the effect of, "Yoon Suk-yeol must become president. I would like followers to be enrolled as dues-paying members of the People Power Party."
On the 4th, the task force summoned Lee as a suspect for questioning. Lee largely denied the allegations during the questioning, according to reports. On the 17th, the task force arrested three former Shincheonji executives, including the late former general affairs chief Go, on charges of violating the Political Parties Act and interfering with business.