Eight Shincheonji Leaders, Including Lee Man-hee, Indicted for Forcing Followers to Join People Power Party

Lee Manhee, the chairman of Shincheonji, who is accused of forcibly enrolling his followers as members of the People Power Party, is now set to stand trial. In addition, several current and former Shincheonji executives—including Ko Dongan, the former secretary-general who was known as the "number two" figure in Shincheonji—have been indicted on the same charges.

Lee Manhee, the chairman of Shincheonji facing charges of violating the Political Party Act, is attending a detention hearing (warrant review) held on the 24th at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

On July 13, the joint investigation team (Hapsoobon) announced that Chairman Lee had been indicted and detained on charges including violation of the Political Party Act and obstruction of work. Along with him, Ko Dongan as well as two former secretary-generals from the John and Simon Tribes, who are also in detention, have been referred to trial on the same charges. Four other Shincheonji executives accused of assisting in these crimes have also been indicted, but without detention.

Chairman Lee and the other suspects are accused of having forced church members to join the People Power Party from 2021 to 2024 in an attempt to influence the party primary elections for both presidential and general elections. Article 42 of the current Political Party Act stipulates that no one may be forced to join or leave a political party.

According to the investigation, Shincheonji systematically encouraged members to join the People Power Party under names such as the "Pilates Project," with the structure organized by tribe. Prosecutors have determined that as a result, at least 56,472 Shincheonji members registered as party members of the People Power Party.

Examining the enrollment by time period: In July 2021, before the 20th presidential election, 6,482 members joined for the first time; in December 2021, another 2,873 joined; in December 2022, 35,073 joined; and in August 2023, 12,044 subsequently registered as party members.

For the acts of enrollment in July 2021—which were close to the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations for Political Party Act violations—the investigation team indicted the suspects on June 29. On this day as well, following further investigations, additional charges were formally filed for the remaining violations.

The investigation revealed that Chairman Lee believed it necessary to establish artificial "connections" with political circles to address various pressing issues within the denomination, and thus took the lead in orchestrating these acts. Both current and former executives, including former secretary-general Ko, carried out systematic roles such as pressuring each tribe to increase enrollments and checking progress toward targets, all under Chairman Lee’s instructions and approval.

The investigation team, which officially launched on January 6 of this year, conducted searches of 56 locations, including Shincheonji’s headquarters in Gwacheon, to investigate suspicions of "planned party enrollments" by Shincheonji. After conducting 272 rounds of questioning involving a total of 203 people, they succeeded in indicting Chairman Lee, the alleged ringleader of the scheme, under detention.

Meanwhile, during the investigation, the joint investigation team also found that a former Shincheonji executive had handed over a list of enrolled congregants and statistical data to figures connected to then-presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s campaign. However, no specific criminal charges were identified in this matter.

However, investigations into other crimes remain ongoing, including the allegations of embezzlement totaling around 10 billion won within the denomination, allegedly led by former secretary-general Ko.

An official from the joint investigation team stated, "We will continue thorough investigations into related suspicions—such as illegal political contributions using Unification Church funds, as well as tax evasion and occupational embezzlement by the Shincheonji side and other resulting allegations."

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