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South Korean authorities have arrested the leader of the Unification Church in an investigation into alleged bribes, including to the jailed wife of impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol.
The Seoul Central District court issued a warrant for Han Hak-ja’s arrest on Tuesday following an hours-long hearing. She was immediately taken into custody.
Han, 82, the widow of the church’s founder Moon Sun-myung, has been accused of directing a church official to bribe Kim Keon Hee, Yoon’s wife, as well as opposition legislator Kweon Seong-dong, a staunch Yoon supporter.
She has denied the allegations, calling them “false information”.
In a statement on Tuesday following Han’s arrest, the church said: “We will faithfully co-operate with the upcoming investigation and trial procedures to verify the truth, and do our utmost to use this as an opportunity to restore trust in our church.”
The church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, has previously accused investigators of disrespecting an “internationally respected religious leader” after Han was questioned for more than 10 hours last week, despite having undergone a heart procedure earlier this month.
Han’s arrest comes as part of special prosecutors’ investigation into Kim, who is standing trial this week on charges of stock manipulation, election meddling and bribery charges. She is being held in solitary confinement.
She is accused of receiving luxury gifts including a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace priced at more than Won60mn ($43,000) and a Chanel handbag through an intermediary for the Unification Church. Prosecutors allege that the church was trying to get Kim’s help on several business deals, including a Cambodian development project.
“I am sorry that someone who used to be one of my people caused a stir in the country,” Han told the court on Monday, according to state-run Yonhap News. “I am a trans-religious leader and devoted my life to delivering peace in the world.”
She added: “I am not interested in Korean politics.”
Yoon was impeached and removed from office over his shortlived effort to impose martial law last year, which plunged South Korea into its worst political crisis since its transition to democracy in the 1980s. He is also facing separate criminal charges of insurrection over ordering troops to parliament. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Kweon, the legislator and a powerful figure in Yoon’s People Power party, was also arrested last week. Investigators have accused the church of providing Kweon with Won100mn and organising its members to join the party to back his bid for its leadership in 2023. Investigators raided the PPP headquarters last week.
Kweon has denied any wrongdoing.
The church, whose followers are commonly referred to as Moonies, was founded in 1954 by Moon, an excommunicated Presbyterian minister who died in 2012.
The group, widely known for mass weddings, controls a vast business empire, with interests in skiing, ocean and golf resorts, a construction group, a defence company, a chemicals group, an auto parts maker and a newspaper.
The church was also at the centre of a controversy in 2022 following the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, whose killer alleged his mother had been financially ruined by donations to the church.
The assassination prompted an investigation into ties between the church and Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic party. In March, a Japanese court ordered the dissolution of the church in the country.
