[2026 Audit] Unification Church Tried to Dispose of 52.3 Billion Won in Assets During Investigation... Choi Hui-young: "We Will Establish Rejection Criteria"

Application to Dispose of 52 Billion Won in December and 300 Million Won in March

Ministry Rejects Both Attempts: "Insufficient Grounds for Disposal During Investigation"

Current Regulations Lack Specific Rejection Criteria

Unification Church: "Sale at Request of Segye Ilbo... Proceeds for Mission Support"

It has come to light that the Unification Church Foundation, which is currently on trial for alleged collusion with the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, attempted to dispose of fundamental assets worth approximately 52.3 billion won between late last year, when the investigation was underway, and early this year. However, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism rejected these attempts twice. Minister Choi Hui-young has stated the ministry will establish more specific review criteria to reduce the potential for legal disputes surrounding the disposal of fundamental assets by non-profit organizations.

Han Hak-ja, President of the Unification Church, who was indicted on charges of 'close collusion' with the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, is leaving the Seoul Central District Court building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, after being sentenced to two years in prison at the first trial on the 31st. Photo by Yonhap News

According to materials submitted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to Assemblywoman Jin Sun-mi from the National Assembly's Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee on October 7, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification Foundation applied twice for authorization to dispose of fundamental assets, once in December last year and again in March this year.

The first application was submitted on December 10 last year. The foundation applied for approval to revise its articles of incorporation in order to dispose of fundamental assets, including a building and land in Gasan-dong, Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, worth about 52 billion won. This was also the day the police took over a case involving the Unification Church from the Kim Gun-hee special prosecutor and set up a special investigation team to begin the inquiry.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism rejected the application on December 29, citing insufficient necessity for disposing of such high-value fundamental assets without a specific plan for their use, particularly while the Unification Church Foundation and its affiliated organizations were under investigation by the special prosecutor and the police.

On March 18 this year, the foundation again applied to dispose of fundamental assets, this time properties including a house and building in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, valued at about 300 million won. The ministry denied the application for similar reasons. The total amount for both applications is approximately 52.3 billion won.

Under the Civil Act and relevant ministry regulations, non-profit organizations such as religious foundations must obtain approval from the competent authority—in this case, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism—to revise their articles of incorporation before they can dispose of assets designated as "fundamental assets." The foundation must submit the reasons for disposal, a list of assets, and the method of disposal, after which the ministry reviews the application and decides whether to grant approval.

The problem is that while the current regulations provide procedures for obtaining approval to amend the articles of incorporation, they do not specify detailed review criteria for restricting or rejecting such approval. Although the ministry rejected the application this time based on the status of the investigation and the necessity for disposal, there are concerns that, in similar future cases, the consistency and verifiable legal basis of administrative decisions could become contentious in possible lawsuits.

During the National Assembly audit that day, Assemblywoman Jin pointed out, "It has been revealed that the Unification Church Foundation, which is under investigation, attempted to dispose of assets worth several billion won in succession," and emphasized the need to establish detailed guidelines for reviewing articles of incorporation amendments concerning such asset disposals by non-profit organizations.

Minister Choi also agreed on the need for institutional improvements, stating, "Making ad hoc decisions each time is both inconsistent and legally risky. We will establish reasonable review criteria that do not undermine organizational autonomy and add these to our operations manual."

Regarding the repeated applications by the Unification Church Foundation, the minister noted, "Attempts to dispose of fundamental assets consecutively while under investigation and trial are, by any standard, unusual. We will establish clear and general criteria so that future decisions can be made accordingly."

The Unification Church Foundation has maintained that it did not proactively pursue the disposal of assets. The foundation stated, "The property in Gasan-dong for which we applied for disposal contains the printing facilities of Segye Ilbo. Segye Ilbo requested the purchase of this property in order to ensure continuity in newspaper production and the stable operation of printing facilities."

The foundation also added, "The proceeds from the sale were intended to be used as mission support funds, as specified in the articles of incorporation," denying any interpretation that the asset disposal was meant to conceal assets during the investigation.

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