▲ Shincheonji headquarters
The joint prosecution and police investigation team probing allegations of collusion between politics and religion has reportedly secured testimony stating that four months ago, a Shincheonji official instructed followers to join not only the People Power Party, but also the Democratic Party of Korea.
The joint investigation body stated that during an investigation of a former Shincheonji member around March, it secured testimony to the effect that "around the end of 2022, an official from the Simon Tribe told members to join the People Power Party, and when members showed reluctance, told them to join the Democratic Party as well."
The Simon Tribe is in charge of northwestern Seoul and northern Gyeonggi Province, centered around Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, within Shincheonji.
The joint body then explained, "Regarding the People Power Party, we confirmed that Shincheonji systematically coerced party membership at the headquarters level, such as ordering party enrollment, allocating membership quotas by tribe, and collecting enrollment statuses," adding, "Regarding the Democratic Party, no facts have been confirmed that party membership was systematically coerced at the headquarters level."
At the time, the focus of the joint investigation team was centered on allegations of enrolling as members of the People Power Party.
This was because the head of the local government in Goyang City, where the Simon Tribe was mainly active, belonged to the People Power Party, and the membership allegations themselves had surfaced targeting the People Power Party.
In connection with this, the joint body raided the People Power Party headquarters and a company entrusted with managing party member registries around February and March, and comparatively analyzed the party member registries and lists of Shincheonji followers.
Subsequently, regarding allegations of coercing followers into joining the People Power Party, Chairman Lee Man-hee and a former general secretary of the Simon Tribe were indicted and detained on charges including violations of the Political Parties Act and obstruction of business.
Recently, allegations of collusion between Shincheonji and the Democratic Party were raised in political circles, and the joint body stated that it is investigating a case regarding allegations of Democratic Party membership during a similar period.
However, what the joint body revealed is an incident that occurred during the primary process last year ahead of the June 3 local elections, and is known to have no direct relevance to the testimony from the former Shincheonji follower regarding the 2022 local elections secured earlier.
The joint body added, "We have confirmed that some Shincheonji followers joined the Democratic Party in certain metropolitan areas ahead of the June 3 local elections."
The allegations of Democratic Party membership that the joint body stated it is investigating differ from the previously indicted People Power Party membership allegations in scale, targets, and structure.
Regarding the People Power Party membership allegations, the joint body concluded that Shincheonji systematically forced followers to join the party under the instructions of Chairman Lee Man-hee, the apex, and applied charges of violating the Political Parties Act.
The Democratic Party membership allegations involve Shincheonji followers joining as party members to support primaries at the request of a local election camp, and the joint body views this as a violation of primary campaign regulations and is investigating with charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.
The joint body emphasized, "We are conducting investigations in accordance with the law and principles," and added, "Some reports claiming that we did not proceed with related investigations despite securing testimony regarding (Shincheonji's) joining of the Democratic Party are different from the facts."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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