Unification Church Approached People Power Party with Undersea Tunnel Proposal Just Before Presidential Election

[Financial News] It has been revealed that, ahead of the March 2022 presidential election, the Unification Church met with key officials of the People Power Party's city and provincial branches, requesting cooperation on church-related issues and delivering political donations. There are also suspicions that Unification Church executives orchestrated split donations to People Power Party politicians and attempted to lobby for the church’s longstanding projects, such as the Japan–Korea Undersea Tunnel, as well as other church agendas.

On the 22nd, JoongAng Ilbo reported that an internal Unification Church document detailed how, just before the 20th presidential election, regional executives of the church divided up contacts and held meetings with People Power Party branch chairpersons. The document also included reports written by each district leader on election day, summarizing their outreach to the president-elect’s camp and reporting the outcomes to church headquarters the following day.
The document, which organized the names and meeting times of those contacted, also contained statements indicating that 'donations, a Japan–Korea Undersea Tunnel policy proposal, and a Korea Peace Summit booklet were delivered.' The act of providing political funds in the form of donations and requesting cooperation on church issues was summarized as a kind of achievement, apparently to give the appearance of legality.
JoongAng Ilbo raised the possibility that the donations prepared by the Unification Church and delivered to politicians were in fact lobbying funds, as they were linked to the church’s key projects such as the Japan–Korea Undersea Tunnel and the DMZ Peace Park.
Notably, the timing of the Unification Church’s contact with politicians and the provision of donations came immediately after an instruction was issued to 'strengthen the local base to advance the church agenda,' according to Yoon Young-ho, former head of the Unification Church World Headquarters.
Another internal document from the Unification Church stated that 'donations were provided along with the Japan–Korea Undersea Tunnel policy proposal, and these were accepted.'
The contacts between the Unification Church and People Power Party branch officials were concentrated from March 4 to March 7, 2022, just five days before the presidential election. The meetings were conducted by the church’s top regional executives, such as district leaders or deputy district leaders, who visited the party’s branch offices or the election camp headquarters.

According to the disclosed documents, on March 4, Unification Church executives met with Park Sung-jung (Seoul) and Kim Sung-won (Gyeonggi). On March 5, they met with Lee Myung-soo (Chungnam), Kwon Myung-ho (Ulsan), and Han Ki-ho, the chief election manager for Gangwon in the presidential campaign. On March 6, they contacted Chung Woo-taik (Chungbuk), Chung Woon-chun (Jeonbuk), and Baek Jong-heon (Busan). The March 7 meeting list included Choo Kyung-ho (Daegu), Jung-Jae Kim (Gyeongbuk), Lee Dal-gon (Gyeongnam), and Choi Min-ho (Sejong).
A total of 17 People Power Party branch officials were targeted for contact. However, meetings with Jun Young Bae, then Incheon branch chair, Kim Sung-won, and an individual identified as Mr. A did not materialize. Donations were made to the remaining 14 individuals.
The Special Prosecutor's Team for Kim Kun-hee determined that the donations were provided in a split manner, led by district leaders and involving other executives. The total amount was estimated at 144 million KRW. In cases where the individual donation limit of 5 million KRW was exceeded, funds were deposited under different names or routed through the party’s central fund to circumvent the cap.
y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter