2 days ago
Special counsel raids Unification Church in probe into ex-first lady
Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki's team investigating various allegations involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee on Friday raided the Unification Church's facilities and officials linked to her alleged acceptance of luxury gifts from the religious group three years ago.
The team sent prosecutors and investigators to the church's international headquarters in Gapyeong, 55 kilometers northeast of Seoul, and its Seoul headquarters in the Yongsan district in the morning to secure documents and computer files related to the suspected delivery of gifts to Kim.
They also searched the residences of Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja and a high-ranking church official at the center of the alleged gift scandal involving Kim.
The special counsel has been investigating the allegations that Kim received a diamond necklace and an expensive bag from the high-ranking Unification Church official through a shaman between April and August of 2022, soon after Yoon Suk Yeol's election as president in March of the same year.
The church official reportedly demanded some business favors from the Yoon government in return for the alleged gifts. The special counsel raided the office of the shaman, named Jeon Seong-bae, or Geon Jin, earlier this week. Jeon has said he received the gifts but lost them all. (Yonhap)
