SPOTLIGHT 25/08/21 Korean investigators probe ex-president’s ties to Unification Chur

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Former first lady received a luxury diamond necklace and Chanel handbags, among other things, as gifts in 2022

The flag of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, also known as the Unification Church, at the entrance of its Japan branch headquarters in Tokyo on Oct. 13, 2023. (Photo: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images)

By UCA News reporter

Published: August 25, 2025 11:57 AM GMT

Updated: August 25, 2025 12:14 PM GMT

South Korean investigators have summoned both the wife of ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol and a shaman amid an ongoing probe over possible graft ties between the former presidential couple and the controversial Unification Church, says a report.

The investigators summoned former first lady Kim Keon Hee and shaman Jeon Seong-bae, who was taken into custody on Aug. 21, the Korean Herald reported on Aug. 25.

The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, popularly known as the Unification Church, is a neo-religious movement founded in 1954 in Seoul by the late pastor Moon Sun-myung.

The Church reportedly has millions of members in up to 100 countries.

It came under criticism and intense scrutiny following the assassination of Japan’s longest-serving former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on July 8, 2022.

The alleged assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami, confessed to the security officials, the motive behind the killing was Abe’s ties to the Unification Church.

Yamagami’s mother, a former Church member, donated huge sums to the Church as an offering, plunging the family into a severe economic crisis.

The assassination led to a government crackdown on the Unification Church in Japan, including lawsuits for corruption and other anomalies.

As of 2021, the group had some 19,000 followers in South Korea who regularly pay offerings, according to the Korean Herald.

The Unification Church is currently led by Hak Ja Han Moon, the widow of the late founder Moon. Followers believe her to be the Messiah since Moon’s death in 2012.

The group’s ties with the former presidential couple of South Korea came to public knowledge when the prosecutors investigated corruption ties between Kim and Jeon ahead of the special counsel team's official launch in mid-April.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office had previously investigated Jeon and a former high-ranking Unification Church official, surnamed Yoon.

The latter insisted that he gave Jeon a luxury diamond necklace and Chanel handbags as a gift for the former first lady following former President Yoon’s 2022 presidential election win.

This was reportedly to acquire South Korean cable news channel YTN and receive an invitation to the presidential inauguration ceremony, besides gaining support for projects in the church’s interests in Cambodia.

During questioning in mid-July, Yoon reportedly testified that he had delivered the luxury items “under the instructions of the Unification Church’s leadership.”

The Unification Church had distanced itself from the church official’s action, reportedly claiming that the delivery was a “personal wrongdoing.”

However, the special counsel secured multiple testimonies that both Han and the church official had expressed their support for then-presidential candidate Yoon in March 2022, which was backed by the entire organization.

The former first lady Kim appeared for her fourth special counsel questioning on Aug. 15 morning following three previous sessions since her detention on Aug. 12.

Though the team questioned her on topics regarding her alleged involvement in the stock price manipulation of imported car dealer Deutsch Motors and the bribery case involving the Unification Church, Kim exercised the right to remain silent for most of the questions, the Korean Herald reported.

The special counsel team reportedly questioned the former first lady on whether she was the owner of the contact saved as “Keon Hee 2” on the phone of the shaman Jeon.

The investigators revealed that Jeon had several phone calls with “Keon Hee 2” around the time he allegedly received luxury items from the church official and attempted to deliver them to the former first lady.

Kim reportedly remained tight-lipped about the contact and church official’s gifts, but the special counsel team decided to indict the former first lady on Aug. 22, three days before the expiration of Kim’s detention period.