Court imposes two-year sentence on Unification Church leader
A Seoul district court on Monday sentenced Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja to two years in prison in a bribery case involving the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, according to multiple reports. The Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence for the 83-year-old, which is lower than the 13-year prison term sought by special counsel Min Joong-ki's team.
Han was found guilty of involvement in giving a luxury necklace and a Chanel bag to then first lady Kim Keon Hee while requesting favors for the church through an intermediary in July 2022, as reported by Yonhap News Agency. The court also convicted her of colluding with former church officials to give 100 million won (US$66,400) to then Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) in January 2022, according to the same source.
The special counsel's team alleged that Han sought Kweon's help in gaining favors for the church in the event of Yoon's election as president in March that year. Yoon, then the PPP candidate, went on to win the election. The Supreme Court in July upheld a two-year prison term for Kweon after finding him guilty of accepting the illegal funds, stripping him of his parliamentary seat, Yonhap reported.
The court also convicted Han and other former church officials of making illegal political donations worth 144 million won using church funds in March 2022. However, it acquitted her of embezzlement charges linked to those donations, and dismissed charges that she embezzled 787 million won of church funds to deliver campaign funds to politicians in Nepal and Senegal, ruling those charges fell outside the special counsel's investigation mandate, according to Yonhap.
Han denies wrongdoing, plans appeal
Han denied wrongdoing, saying she had no interest in politics and that subordinates had acted without her knowledge, as reported by Reuters. Her lawyers have announced they will launch an appeal, according to Deutsche Welle.
Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team had argued the case constituted a direct violation of the constitutional spirit of separation of religion and politics, Yonhap reported. The special counsel has also sought prison terms for others indicted in Han's case, including a 10-year sentence for a former aide to Han and a 3 1/2-year term for Yun Young-ho, a former head of the church's global headquarters.
Background on the Unification Church
Han is the widow of Sun Myung Moon, the influential founder of the Unification Church, formally titled the "Family Federation for World Peace and Unification." The church began in the 1950s and has become known for its mass weddings, secrecy, and accusations of cult-like behavior and influence peddling, according to Deutsche Welle.
The church's reach has extended outside Korea, most notably in Japan, where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in 2022 by a man motivated by Abe's family ties to the church. Kim Keon Hee, the former first lady at the center of the bribery case, has also been convicted of graft charges, and her husband, former President Yoon Suk Yeol, is currently jailed following a failed bid to declare martial law in South Korea, Deutsche Welle reported.