SEOUL, Dec. 15– South Korean police raided 10 locations Monday over allegations that the Unification Church bribed politicians, according to Yonhap news agency.
A special investigation team of the National Police Agency stormed the residence of Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja, who has been detained since September, the church’s headquarters in Seoul and homes of three politicians.
The police would likely focus on securing the church’s accounting records and tracing the money flow while trying to find the valuables allegedly used as bribes.
Han has been held in custody on bribery charges involving Kim Keon-hee, the impeached former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s wife.
Han was suspected of her involvement in bribing Yoon’s wife with a luxury necklace and bags in exchange for favors, embezzling the church’s funds to buy the gifts, and ordering a former church official to destroy evidence ahead of the police probe into her alleged overseas gambling.
The constitutional court upheld a motion to impeach Yoon on April 4, 2025, over his botched martial law bid last December, officially removing him from office.
The ousted leader was indicted under detention on Jan. 26 as a suspected ringleader of insurrection. (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
