CIO Clears Min Joonggi Special Prosecutor Team of 'Unification Church Biased Investigation' Allegations

Yoon Young-ho Testified: "Luxury Watches and Cash Given to Jeon Jae-soo"

CIO Confirmed Deliberation on Transfer of Case

Case Closed Against Min Joong-gi, Park Sangjin and Others Due to Insufficient Evidence

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) has cleared Special Prosecutor Min Joong-gi and other members of the Kim Gun-hee special investigation team of allegations of biased investigation, after they were accused of failing to adequately investigate claims that the Unification Church provided money and valuables to politicians.

Special Prosecutor Min Jung-gi of the Special Investigation Team for fact-finding on the state power manipulation and illegal election interference cases related to Kim Gun-hee, Myeong Tae-kyun, and Geon Jin-beop is announcing the results of the special prosecutor's investigation on the 29th at the briefing room of the Special Investigation Team set up at the KT Gwanghwamun Building West in Jongno-gu, Seoul. 2025.12.29 Photo by Dongju Yoon

On the 29th, a CIO official stated at a regular briefing, "We dismissed the allegations against the members of the special investigation team—who were accused of not referring or properly handling the case despite obtaining testimony regarding the Unification Church's illicit provision of money and valuables—due to insufficient evidence, as decided the previous day."

In late August last year, while questioning Yoon Young-ho, former head of the World Headquarters of the Unification Church, the Kim Gun-hee special investigation team obtained testimony indicating that Jeon Jae-soo, then Mayor of Busan (and former Minister of Oceans and Fisheries), received two luxury watches and tens of millions of won. The prosecutor in charge compiled these statements into an interview report, and an investigation by the CIO confirmed that this report had been submitted to Special Prosecutor Min via internal channels within the investigation team.

The special investigation team determined that these allegations did not fall within the investigative scope defined by the Kim Gun-hee Special Prosecutor Act. As a result, they wrote an investigation report and managed the matter as a separate case. In response, the People Power Party filed a complaint against Special Prosecutor Min and related members of the investigation team, accusing them of dereliction of duty by deliberately failing to investigate Democratic Party politicians, which triggered a subsequent investigation.

In December of last year, the CIO assigned the case to the Fourth Investigation Division, conducted two raids on the special prosecutor's office, and summoned both Special Prosecutor Min and other prosecutors from the team for questioning.

However, according to the CIO's investigation, internal documents from the special investigation team included discussions about handling the case separately based on Yoon's testimony and considering the possibility of transferring it to another investigative agency. Furthermore, relevant prosecutors consistently testified that they had not received any instructions from Special Prosecutor Min or deputy special prosecutors to delay or conceal the investigation.

The CIO official explained, "A charge of dereliction of duty requires more than mere delay; there must be an intentional abandonment of work. The fact that additional investigative measures were not taken immediately is insufficient to conclude that the suspects abandoned their duties to cover up a crime."

The official also explained that even if the testimony about the provision of money and valuables to Jeon is true, it is difficult to definitively determine whether these charges fall under the scope of investigation specified by the Kim Gun-hee Special Prosecutor Act. The official added that the Special Prosecutor Act does not specify the timing for transferring cases that fall outside the investigative scope, which was also considered. The CIO concluded the case for lack of sufficient evidence, stating that no corroborating evidence or circumstances had been found.

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