95-year-old Shincheonji leader appears in court with cane, faces detention over mass PPP enrollment

Lee Man-hee, chairman of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, arrives at Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday for a pretrial detention hearing on charges of violating the Political Parties Act. [Yonhap]

Lee Man-hee, the 95-year-old chairman of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, appeared in court Wednesday for a pretrial detention hearing on allegations that he orchestrated the mass enrollment of church members into the People Power Party.

Seoul Central District Court Judge Kim Jin-man, who handles warrant reviews, presided over the hearing beginning at 2 p.m., examining charges against Lee that include violations of the Political Parties Act.

Lee arrived at the courthouse at around 1:45 p.m., leaning on a cane. He did not respond to reporters' questions — including whether he had personally ordered the mass PPP enrollments and whether the move was intended to support former President Yoon Suk Yeol — and walked directly into the courtroom.

The joint investigative task force probing alleged collusion between religion and politics filed an arrest warrant for Lee on June 22. That came 167 days after the task force was launched on Jan. 6.

Lee is accused of coercing church members into joining the PPP between 2021 and 2024 with the aim of influencing the party's presidential and general election primaries.

Article 42 of the Political Parties Act prohibits forcing anyone to join or leave a political party.

Investigators believe Shincheonji branches encouraged members to join the PPP under project names such as "Pilates Project," with at least 56,472 members ultimately enrolling as dues-paying party members.

The task force has also secured testimony that Lee told regional chapter leaders — including heads of adult, youth and women's associations — ahead of the 2022 presidential election that Yoon Suk Yeol should become president and that members should sign up as dues-paying PPP members.

Investigators have also identified circumstances in which a former Shincheonji official handed a list of enrolled members, along with their numbers, to a representative of Yoon's presidential campaign.

Once Lee is taken into custody, the task force plans to examine whether political figures requested or were otherwise involved in the organized enrollment of church members.

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