Oceans minister offers to resign amid allegations of receiving bribes from Unification Church
Oceans Minister Chun Jae-soo is surrounded by reporters at Incheon International Airport, Thursday, amid allegations that he received bribes from the Unification Church. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Oceans Minister Chun Jae-soo offered to resign Thursday amid allegations he took bribes from the Unification Church, though he rejected the claim as "completely groundless."
Chun expressed his intent to resign as he returned from a U.N. meeting in New York, where South Korea and Chile were designated as co-hosts of a U.N. ocean conference in 2028.
"As a public official, resigning from the ministerial post and squarely responding will be the right behavior," he told reporters at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul.
"It is a case based on falsehoods, but I believe it will be appropriate for me to step down from my post as oceans minister in order for (the government) to work without faltering," he added. "It is an absurd but completely groundless controversy."
Chun has been named by a former Unification Church official as one of several ruling Democratic Party of Korea(DPK)-affiliated people who took money and other gifts from the church during the administration of former President Moon Jae-in.
Yun Young-ho, former head of the church's global headquarters, told a special counsel team in August that the church gave two luxury watches and tens of millions of won to Chun between 2018 and 2020 while requesting his help with the church's project to build an undersea tunnel connecting South Korea and Japan.
Chun was a DPK lawmaker at the time.
"There was absolutely no illegal acceptance of money or valuables," he said, adding he will state his position in the investigation process or at a press conference.
Yun's testimony only surfaced recently after he disclosed it at his trial last week, accusing the special counsel team of conducting a biased investigation focused only on the church's alleged ties to the main opposition People Power Party affiliated with former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Yun is standing trial on embezzlement and other charges in a corruption case linked to the former Yoon administration.
The special counsel team admitted this week that it received such testimony from Yun but rejected allegations of bias, claiming the matter was not part of its investigation mandate.
On Tuesday, the team transferred the case to the police.