Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: 'Insufficient justification given ongoing investigation'

Unification Church: Segye Times requested purchase to ensure stable printing operations

Rep. Jin Sun-mi calls for clearer ministry guidelines

Han Hak-ja, head of the Unification Church, who has been indicted on charges of colluding with the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, attends her first-instance sentencing hearing at Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu on Aug. 31. [Pool photo via Yonhap]
Han Hak-ja, head of the Unification Church, who has been indicted on charges of colluding with the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, attends her first-instance sentencing hearing at Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu on Aug. 31. [Pool photo via Yonhap]

The Unification Church foundation, currently on trial on charges of colluding with the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, attempted to dispose of core assets worth 52.3 billion won ($38.9 million) late last year and earlier this year while a criminal investigation was actively underway, only to be blocked by the government, it has emerged.

According to documents Rep. Jin Sun-mi of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, obtained from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Unification Church foundation filed two applications with the ministry to dispose of its core assets — once in December last year and again in March this year — both of which were rejected.

Under the Civil Act and the ministry's internal rules, nonprofit corporations such as religious foundations must obtain approval from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism — the supervising authority — to amend their articles of incorporation before disposing of core assets such as land or buildings. The ministry reviews the stated grounds for disposal before deciding whether to grant approval.

The foundation filed its first application on Dec. 10 last year, seeking to dispose of core assets worth approximately 52 billion won, including a building and land in Gasan-dong, Geumcheon-gu, Seoul. That was the same day police, having received a referral from the special prosecutor handling Unification Church-related cases involving Kim Keon Hee, formed a dedicated investigative team and launched a full-scale investigation.

The ministry rejected the application on Dec. 29, stating that "disposing of high-value core assets without any specific plan for their use, at a time when a special prosecutor and police are actively investigating the Unification Church foundation and its affiliated organizations, lacks sufficient justification."

The foundation filed a second application on March 18 this year, seeking to dispose of core assets worth approximately 300 million won, including a house and building in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province. The ministry rejected that application on the same grounds.

In response, the Unification Church foundation said the property in question was the building housing the Segye Times' rotary press, and that it was the newspaper that had requested to purchase it to ensure continuity of newspaper production and stable operation of its printing facilities. "The claim that the foundation proactively sought to dispose of the asset is not accurate," the foundation said, adding that it had applied to the ministry to sell the property with the proceeds earmarked for missionary support expenditures in line with the foundation's stated purposes under its articles of incorporation.

The attempted disposal of hundreds of billions of won in assets by a religious foundation under criminal investigation has prompted calls for the ministry to tighten its relevant rules.

Current ministry rules address only the scope of its approval authority and contain no specific criteria for rejection, meaning that if an administrative lawsuit or other legal dispute were to arise, a rejection decision could potentially be overturned.

"It has come to light that the Unification Church foundation, while under investigation, repeatedly attempted to dispose of assets worth hundreds of billions of won," Rep. Jin said. "Because clear standards for blocking such moves are lacking, the ministry must draw up detailed guidelines governing restrictions on amendments to articles of incorporation, including asset disposals by nonprofit corporations."

Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-young responded at the National Assembly's national audit of the ministry Wednesday, saying the ministry would "establish reasonable review criteria that do not infringe on organizational autonomy and add them to the operational manual."

Meanwhile, the suspension of the detention of Han Hak-ja — the Unification Church head who was indicted on charges of colluding with the government and sentenced to two years in prison at trial — has been extended through Nov. 20.

The 13th Criminal Division of Seoul High Court — presided over by Judges Kim Mu-sin, Lee Woo-hee and Yu Dong-gyun — granted Han's application for an extension of her detention suspension on Sept. 29. As a result, the suspension, which had been set to expire at 6 p.m. Saturday, was extended through 3 p.m. on Nov. 20.

Han was indicted in custody in October last year. Since late March this year, she has received a series of detention suspensions on health grounds and has been receiving treatment at a hospital while her trial has continued.

The appeals court is scheduled to hold the first hearing in Han's appellate trial at 2 p.m. on Nov. 13. The session will also include a hearing on Han's bail application.

Han is accused of conspiring with former chief of staff Jeong Won-ju and former global headquarters director Yun Yeong-ho to hand 100 million won in cash to former lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong around January 2022 as illegal political funds, and of channeling 144 million won from Unification Church-affiliated organizations to People Power Party lawmakers and others as donations between March and April of that year.

She also faces charges of conspiring with former director Yun to give Kim Keon Hee gifts totaling approximately 80 million won — including a Graff diamond necklace — on two separate occasions in July 2022, and of embezzling Unification Church funds to finance the illegal political contributions and the purchase of the high-value gifts.


pink@heraldcorp.com