'Unification Church Mass Membership' Additional Indictment of Kim Keon Hee Assigned to Judge Kwon Seong-dong and Hak Ja Han's Panel

[Financial News] Kim Keon Hee and other defendants, who have been indicted on charges of enrolling Unification Church members into the People Power Party to help a specific candidate win the party leadership, will now stand trial before the same panel that handled the case of People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong.
According to the legal community on the 11th, the Seoul Central District Court assigned the additional indictment case against Kim Keon Hee, Hak Ja Han, president of the Unification Church, Geonjin Beopsa Jeon Sung-bae, former Unification Church World Headquarters chief Yoon Young-ho, and former Unification Church secretary general Mr. Jung—charged with violating the Political Parties Act—to the Criminal Agreement Division 27 of the Seoul Central District Court (Chief Judge Woo In-seong).
Currently, Criminal Agreement Division 27 primarily oversees cases handled by the Kim Keon Hee Special Prosecutor Team (led by Min Joong-ki), including Kim Keon Hee’s 'DEUTSCH MOTORS stock manipulation allegations' and political funds violations involving Hak Ja Han and Kwon Seong-dong.
The defendants are accused of orchestrating mass enrollments of Unification Church members into the People Power Party ahead of the party’s March 8, 2023 national convention to secure the leadership for a particular candidate. The special prosecutor suspects that in November 2022, Kim Keon Hee requested Jeon Sung-bae and Yoon Young-ho to facilitate collective membership registrations. It is further alleged that Kim Keon Hee, in collusion with Jeon Sung-bae, promised government-level support and proportional representation nominations for Unification Church officials in exchange for the mass membership drive, aiming to elect a candidate supported by former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Hak Ja Han, Yoon Young-ho, and Mr. Jung are also accused of accepting Kim Keon Hee’s plan and conspiring to force church members to join the party.
To verify these allegations, the Kim Keon Hee Special Prosecutor Team conducted searches and seizures at the People Power Party’s Yeouido headquarters, the People Power Party Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Party, and companies managing party membership lists.
theknight@fnnews.com Jung Kyung-soo Reporter