Why Joint Investigation Headquarters Overlooked Shincheonji's Move to Join Democratic Party Despite Prior Testimony

[Anchor]

It has been revealed that a joint prosecution-police investigation headquarters secured testimony four months ago indicating that Shincheonji followers had moved to join the Democratic Party four years ago. Critics have raised concerns that the joint headquarters was not proactive in investigating the ruling party. In response, the joint headquarters stated that no systematic coercion was confirmed at the time, and added that additional circumstances regarding joining the Democratic Party were also found ahead of this year's local elections.

Reporter Kim Deok-hyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

The joint prosecution-police investigation headquarters, launched in January, has focused its investigation on allegations of Shincheonji's collective enrollment in the People Power Party.

As a result, Shincheonji leader Lee Man-hee and other key figures were indicted and detained on charges of systematically and forcibly ordering followers to join the People Power Party.

However, it was confirmed that four months ago, while the related investigation was underway, the joint headquarters secured testimony from a former follower stating that there were internal Shincheonji movements encouraging followers to join the Democratic Party as well in late 2022.

The testimony stated that an executive of Shincheonji's Simon Tribe, active mainly around Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, told members to join the People Power Party, and if they showed reluctance, to join the Democratic Party instead.

As this fact became known belatedly and critics pointed out that the headquarters might have been passive in investigating the ruling party, the joint headquarters stepped forward to explain.

Unlike the People Power Party, no evidence of systematic coercion to join the party at the level of the Shincheonji general headquarters has been confirmed for the Democratic Party, the agency stated.

An official from the joint headquarters explained that because it was a period unrelated to elections, the statute of limitations for the Public Official Election Act had already expired, and no coercion was confirmed, making it difficult to apply violations of the Political Parties Act.

However, the joint headquarters added that it recently confirmed additional instances of some Shincheonji followers in the capital area joining the Democratic Party as members around late last year, ahead of this year's local elections.

This is a separate charge from the testimony regarding the enrollment from four years ago.

Suspecting that the enrollment of followers in the Democratic Party took place to resolve complaints of a specific tribe in the capital region, the joint headquarters has questioned related Shincheonji figures as suspects.

(Video Editing: Lee So-young, Design: Jang Seong-beom)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.