Joint Investigation Team Requests Arrest Warrants for Three Former Shincheonji Executives over "Party Membership Enrollment Allegations"

Joint Task Force Seeks Arrest of Former Shincheonji Leaders
on Allegations of Forced Party Membership

First Arrest Warrant Application Since Team's Launch;
Over 50,000 Followers Allegedly Enrolled in People Power Party

Investigation Expands Toward Lee Man-hee as Command Structure Revealed

The joint investigative team of prosecutors and police, which is investigating allegations of collusion between religious organizations and political circles—including lobbying activities—has begun taking legal action against former executives of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Temple of the Tabernacle of Testimony (Shincheonji) in connection with the "party membership enrollment allegations."

On June 13, the joint investigative team announced that it had requested arrest warrants the previous day for Ko Dong-an, the former secretary general of the Shincheonji General Assembly—who was considered the second-in-command in the denomination—as well as the former secretaries general of the John Tribe and Simon Tribe, on charges including violations of the Political Parties Act related to the forced enrollment of members into a specific political party. This marks the first arrest warrant application since the launch of the joint task force 158 days ago on January 6, 2026.

The headquarters of Shincheonji Church in Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do. Photo by Yonhap News

From 2021 to 2024, Ko and others are suspected of forcing followers to join the People Power Party as members in order to influence the party's presidential and parliamentary primary elections. Article 42 of the Political Parties Act prohibits forcing anyone to join or leave a political party.

The joint investigative team believes that Shincheonji encouraged its followers in each tribe to join the People Power Party under a project called the "Pilates Project," resulting in more than 50,000 members enrolling in the party. The investigation team also included charges of obstruction of business in the warrant, stating that this organized party membership enrollment disrupted the People Power Party's election operations.

Since January this year, the joint investigative team has conducted searches and seizures at the Shincheonji General Assembly headquarters and the People Power Party headquarters, securing lists of Shincheonji members and People Power Party members.

After completing the analysis of seized materials and interviews with related individuals, the investigation team called in Ko three times last month for questioning as a suspect. It is reported that Ko generally denied the charges during the interrogations.

The investigative team is also investigating Ko on suspicion of embezzling part of more than 11.3 billion won he collected from followers from 2017 onward—while managing the denomination's finances—ostensibly for legal fees and publicity expenses for General Assembly leader Lee Man-hee.

However, it is understood that these allegations were not included in the current arrest warrant request.

If the arrest warrants for Ko and others are issued, the joint investigative team is expected to seek to secure the custody of Lee Man-hee, the Shincheonji General Assembly leader, who is regarded as being at the center of the allegations.

During their investigation of former Shincheonji executives, the joint team obtained testimony indicating that instructions regarding party membership enrollment were delivered through a chain of command from Lee Man-hee, to the secretary general, to each tribe leader, to church pastors, and then through senior, women's, and youth associations, and that such collective actions would not have been possible without Lee's orders. Earlier, on June 4, Lee was summoned as a suspect and questioned regarding the overall allegations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.