Lee Man-hee of Shincheonji Faces Detention Warrant Review Over Alleged Mass Enrollment in People Power Party

Lee Man-hee, chairman of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, who is accused of forcing believers to join the People Power Party to influence the party's internal primaries, is now facing a detention warrant review.
According to legal sources on the 23rd, Kim Jin-man, a senior judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, will hold a pre-arrest detention hearing for Lee on the 24th. Lee is suspected of violating the Political Parties Act.
The Joint Prosecutor-Police Investigation Task Force, which is probing allegations of collusion between religion and politics, said the previous day that it had requested an arrest warrant for Lee on charges including violations of the Political Parties Act in connection with Shincheonji's alleged coercion of people to join a specific party.
Lee is accused of forcing believers to join the party from 2021 through 2024 in an effort to influence the People Power Party's presidential and parliamentary primary races. Under the Political Parties Act, no one may be coerced into joining or leaving a party.
The Joint Investigation Headquarters (JIH) believes Shincheonji encouraged believers to join the People Power Party under names such as the 'Pilates Project' at each of its branches, and that more than 50,000 believers ultimately signed up as party members. The warrant also cites obstruction of business, saying this organized enrollment campaign disrupted the party's election operations.
Investigators found that 6,482 Shincheonji believers joined in July to September 2021 ahead of the 20th presidential election, followed by 2,873 in January 2022, 35,073 in December 2022 to January 2023, and 12,044 in September 2023 to January 2024. To verify the allegations, JIH carried out raids in January and February at Shincheonji's headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, the Gapyeong Peace Training Center, residences of Shincheonji officials, and the People Power Party headquarters. The investigation team suspects Shincheonji tried to influence the primary process by systematically enrolling believers and paying their membership dues on Lee's orders.
Lee appeared before JIH as a suspect on the 4th and was questioned. At the time, he headed to the interrogation room without answering reporters' questions about whether church members were forced to join the People Power Party, whether the party was asked to handle pending issues, or whether former President Yoon Suk Yeol helped block the raids.
Earlier, on the 17th, the court issued arrest warrants for former Shincheonji general secretary Go Do-han, former John Tribe general secretary A, and former Simon Tribe general secretary B.
theknight@fnnews.com Jung Kyung-soo Reporter