▲ Investigators launch a second attempt to raid the headquarters of the People Power Party in Seoul on March 3, 2026, over allegations the Shincheonji Church of Jesus forced its followers to join the party in order to sway elections. (Yonhap)

opposition party-raid

Investigators try again to raid opposition party over ties to religious sect

SEOUL, March 3 (Yonhap) -- Investigators launched a second attempt Tuesday to raid the headquarters of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) over suspicions a religious sect meddled in its primaries for the 2022 presidential election and the 2024 parliamentary elections, legal sources said.

The investigators on a joint prosecution-police team had tried to execute a search warrant at the PPP headquarters in western Seoul last Friday but withdrawn after an hourslong standoff with party officials. The raid also targets a company handling the party's membership list.

The Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a nonmainstream religious sect, is suspected of forcing tens of thousands of its followers to become dues-paying members of the PPP in order to sway the results of the 2022 and 2024 elections.

Investigators have reportedly obtained testimony that Shincheonji's leaders urged party membership by citing the need to "return the favor to Yoon Suk Yeol," who, as prosecutor general in 2020, had dismissed search warrants for a Shincheonji church in the southeastern city of Daegu when it was targeted as an epicenter of COVID-19.

Yoon won the 2022 presidential election.

The investigation team has accused the religious group of violations of the Political Parties Act and obstruction of business.

Shincheonji has denied the allegations.

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