▲ This undated file photo shows Lee Man-hee, founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. (Yonhap)

religious sect-probe

Prosecution-police team raids Shincheonji sect over suspected collusion with politics

SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) -- A joint prosecution-police team launched recently to investigate suspected collusion between politics and religion raided the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a nonmainstream religious sect, on Friday as part of a probe into its alleged ties to the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).

Prosecutors and investigators from the team searched Shincheonji's headquarters in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, and a church training center in Gapyeong, east of the capital, in the morning to seize data related to suspicions of church members' collective affiliation with the PPP years ago.

The church's founder, Lee Man-hee, and others are suspected of forcing church followers to join the PPP with the aim of influencing the results of the party's presidential primary in 2021 and the party's candidate nominations for the 2024 general elections.

The search and seizure warrant reportedly lists Lee, among others, as a suspect accused of obstruction of business and violating the Political Parties Act.

The joint investigation team is said to have secured statements from former Shincheonji officials that the church encouraged its followers to join the PPP under a project dubbed "Pilates" and tens of thousands of them actually became dues-paying members of the party. Some of the former church officials reportedly testified that the church attempted to exert its influence in politics through the conservative political circles.

Shincheonji has denied the allegations of its followers' collective affiliation with the PPP and their intervention in the party's candidate nominations.

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[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]