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Probe into PPP collusion finds 3,500 Unification Church members joined party ahead of key events

Published: 26 Sep. 2025, 15:10

People Power Party Chairman Jang Dong-hyeok, front, enters an office in Yeouido, western Seoul, where the company managing the party’s membership database is located, to block a raid by a special counsel investigating former first lady Kim Keon Hee on Sept. 18. [YONHAP]

Prosecutors have uncovered evidence that 3,500 Unification Church followers joined the People Power Party (PPP) in the run-up to its 2023 leadership race and last year’s general election, intensifying a probe into alleged collusion between the conservative party and the controversial religious group.

According to political sources Thursday, some 3,100 members registered between October 2022 and March 2023, before the party convention, while about 400 joined between January and April of last year.

The figures were obtained after prosecutors raided the firm managing the PPP’s membership list on Sept. 18, comparing it with church records to identify members who joined during the key political events.

The investigation found that around 120,000 Unification Church members were listed as PPP members. Prosecutors reportedly spent four and a half hours during the raid cross-checking the party list with a database of 1.2 million church members, verifying names and birth dates for accuracy.

The probe is focusing on the 3,100 members who joined before the March 2023 party convention, when Rep. Kweon Seong-dong was floated as a candidate for party leader. Investigators suspect the church attempted to boost Kweon’s chances of winning to secure greater influence within the party.

Text messages uncovered during the investigation showed Yoon Young-ho, a former head of the church’s world headquarters, asking a shaman named Jeon Seong-bae, also known as Geon Jin, about “the exact position of the president” regarding the race and “the scale required” for the convention. He noted via text message that “11,101 new members” had joined.

Jeon responded that “the president’s stance remains with Kweon.”

The exchange occurred when the PPP revised its rules to make the leadership race decided entirely by party members rather than a mix of member votes and public opinion polls, intensifying the competition for membership recruitment.

Kweon later withdrew from the race, and prosecutors believe the church shifted its support to PPP Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon. Investigators are also considering the possibility that former first lady Kim Keon Hee requested the recruitment of church members through Jeon.

To apply charges under the Political Parties Act, investigators must prove that church members were forced to join the party against their will. Even if thousands of church followers joined the PPP around the same time, the case would not constitute a violation unless coercion from the church hierarchy, including leader Han Hak-ja, can be established.

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, then-newly elected leader of the People Power Party, cheers during the party’s third national convention at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on March 8, 2023. [YONHAP]

The PPP has downplayed the findings, arguing that the overlap is statistically natural.

“With a population of 50 million and 5 million party members, about 10 percent of Koreans are PPP members,” said floor leader Rep. Song Eon-seog on Sept. 19. “If there are 1.2 million church members, it is statistically very likely that around 120,000 would also be party members.”

Party insiders also argue that the church’s influence would have been limited, since only members who had paid dues for at least three months were eligible to vote in the convention.

Nonetheless, investigators stress that the key issue is whether forced collective enrollment occurred, which could constitute a violation regardless of scale.

The PPP is bracing for additional raids. While both the central office and the membership management firm were listed in the Sept. 18 warrant, only the firm was searched. PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok said on Sept. 19 that prosecutors “warned that they might return for further searches.” The special counsel’s office said the raid on the central office was currently “on hold.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEON MIN-GOO,JEONG JIN-WOO [[email protected]]