Joint Investigation Headquarters Secures Testimony That Shincheonji Official Ordered Members to Join the Democratic Party

[Financial News] The Joint Investigation Headquarters, which is probing allegations of corruption involving collusion between religion and politics, has secured testimony indicating that a Shincheonji official instructed followers to join not only the People Power Party but also the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). The headquarters is led by Kim Tae-hoon, chief prosecutor of the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office.
However, it said no evidence was found that Shincheonji's general assembly systematically pressured members to join the DPK.
On the 28th, the Joint Investigation Headquarters said in a press briefing that during the investigation, some former Shincheonji members stated that "around late 2022, a branch official told members to join the People Power Party, and if they showed reluctance, they were told to join the DPK as well."
It added that, based on interviews with related parties and analysis of seized materials, the circumstances surrounding the party memberships of the People Power Party and the DPK were different.
Regarding the People Power Party, the headquarters said it confirmed that Shincheonji's general assembly had instructed members to join the party, assigned quotas by branch, and collected the membership status, thereby systematically forcing party membership.
By contrast, it explained that no evidence was found of the same kind of organized, general-assembly-level pressure to join the DPK.
The headquarters also said it confirmed that some Shincheonji members joined the DPK in parts of the Seoul metropolitan area ahead of last year's June 3 local elections, and that it is currently investigating the case on suspicion of violating the Public Official Election Act.
A headquarters official rejected some media reports that it had failed to investigate the DPK-related allegations despite securing testimony, saying, "We are conducting the investigation in accordance with the law and principles."
Earlier, some media outlets reported that while the headquarters was questioning former Shincheonji members in March, it obtained testimony that the youth leader of the Simon Tribe, which oversees Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province, had ordered members to join both the People Power Party and the DPK ahead of the 2022 local elections, but did not pursue a DPK-related investigation.
After raiding the People Power Party headquarters and a company entrusted with managing its membership roster in February and March, the headquarters compared the party's membership list with Shincheonji's member registry. It later indicted Lee Man-hee and a former general secretary of the Simon Tribe on charges of violating the Political Parties Act and obstructing business, after finding evidence that they had systematically forced members to join the People Power Party.
Some observers have also raised concerns that the allegations involving the DPK are being treated as less significant than the People Power Party case. The headquarters said the People Power Party case involved confirmed, organized pressure at the general assembly level, leading to charges under the Political Parties Act, while the DPK case is being investigated under the Public Official Election Act, focusing on whether party membership was used to support primary elections at the request of a local campaign team.
 
[email protected] Reporter Choi Eun-sol Reporter