The joint prosecution-police investigation headquarters, which is currently investigating alleged collusion and corruption involving a religious group, additionally indicted Lee Man-hee, the chairman of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji), on charges of forcing followers to join a specific political party.
The joint headquarters (headed by Deputy Minister Kim Tae-hoon, high-ranking prosecutor) said on the 13th that it indicted Lee under detention on charges of violating the Political Parties Act and obstructing business. After being first indicted under detention on the 29th of last month for certain offenses as the statute of limitations neared, Lee was additionally brought to trial this time on the remaining charges.
According to the joint headquarters, Lee is accused of forcing Shincheonji followers to join a specific political party and obstructing the party's operations in the run-up to the 8th local elections, the party leadership primary, and the 22nd National Assembly elections.
Along with this, three key executives — former general affairs chief of the general assembly Go Dong-an, former general affairs chief of the John tribe, and former general affairs chief of the Simon tribe — were also indicted under detention on the same charges. Four other general assembly and tribe officials who participated in the offenses were brought to trial without detention.
During the investigation, the joint headquarters conducted searches and seizures at 56 locations, including Shincheonji's general assembly headquarters in Gwacheon and Lee's residence, and questioned 203 people a total of 272 times.
As a result of the investigation, it was found that Shincheonji determined contact with the political sphere was necessary to resolve pending issues facing the denomination and pushed for followers to join the party in an organized manner.
The joint headquarters said, "We confirmed that Shincheonji, judging it necessary to contact the political sphere to resolve various issues surrounding the denomination, forced followers to join as members of a specific political party in an organized manner by directing and pressing each tribe to recruit party members under Lee's instructions and approval, assigning membership targets, and tracking the status."
It added, "We will continue to investigate other allegations, including the Unification Church's illegal political donations using group funds, occupational embezzlement, Shincheonji's tax evasion, and occupational embezzlement."