Jailed Unification Church leader again quizzed about bribery allegations
This combination photo shows Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja, left, and former ranking church official Yun Young-ho / Yonhap
Police again questioned jailed Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja and a former high-ranking church official Wednesday over bribery allegations involving multiple politicians.
A special police investigation team visited the Seoul Detention Center, where Han and former church official Yun Young-ho are currently held on bribery charges linked to former first lady Kim Keon Hee, and questioned them about the allegations that the church gave tens of millions of won and luxury gifts to former Oceans Minister Chun Jae-soo, former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lim Jong-seong and former United Future Party lawmaker Kim Gyu-hwan from 2018 to 2020.
The police previously met with Han and Yun at the same detention center on Dec. 11 and 17, respectively, to question them about the suspected bribery but reportedly failed to secure any meaningful statements.
Ahead of the second round of questioning, the police raided the church's headquarters and other facilities to secure accounting data and records of visitors linked to the bribery allegations. Last Friday, Chun was summoned to the police to be questioned about suspicions involving the church.
Meanwhile, the police called in Song Kwang-seok, another former ranking church official, on Wednesday morning to question him about whether he served as a conduit for the church to access political figures. The police suspect that Song acted as an intermediary in the transfer of church funds to politicians.